The Dark Rise of Lyric
by Nazo the Mysterious Hedgehog
Summary: Sonic is back! And better than ever. After recovering from his battle with Metal Mach, Sonic and his friends are on a new adventure on Bygone Island and some of the surrounding islands. What starts as another adventure to stop Dr. Eggman quickly takes unexpected turns as The Last Ancient is revived and some secrets of Sonic and Tails' past heritage is revealed!
1. Chapter 1

The Dark Rise of Lyric

Prologue

Somewhere on a forgotten island 1.000 years ago

A champion of the Ancients stood tall as he looked up at his fellow Ancient named Lyric. Lyric was a snake cyborg of the Ancients who was being entombed in a special prison for his crimes against his people and for his insidious desires. The champion of the Ancients made sure Lyric's cybernetics were in lockdown so he wouldn't attempt to escape. "This is a mockery!" Lyric hissed as robots and guards of the Ancients kept him in the middle of the tomb. "No! You're a mockery of our people Lyric. You took an oath to protect and uphold the ideals of the Ancients and to master coexistence with nature, machine and other races as we all have." The champion of the Ancients said to the green serpent. Lyric could feel a freezing pain as a metallic alloy was starting to cover his body. "You all should've killed me when you had the chance, being entombed for a millennia will only make my desires burn fiercely!" Lyric hissed as his tail was freezing in place.

The champion of the Ancients looked up at Lyric and shook his head for a moment. "It's not our way to wish death upon others. The Crystals drove you to such madness my old friend." Lyric glared at the champion of the Ancients. "Your way is flawed! Do you honestly think that this tomb can hold me for more than a millennia?" Lyric said to his former friend with anger in his eyes. "Even if you escape, I know that without a doubt the future is in good capable hands." The champion said with a grin on his face. Lyric narrowed his eyes as his torso was freezing up. "Oh I swear Mach that I'll escape from this tomb! And when I do I'll execute my revenge upon Sonic! And then I'll wipe out your entire clan before eliminating all organic life. This I swear." Lyric said as he felt a jolt of pain from the freezing and was soon turned into a statue. However the Ancients installed devices in his tomb, which could release him if such a time was ever truly needed.

Bygone Island Present Day!

Team Sonic and Amy Rose were enjoying a fun time at Tails new workshop he installed on the island. The workshop was made in a big wooden building that their new friend Cliff hadn't used much (even though it was given to him by Green's parents). The property came complete with an airstrip which allowed them to use the Tornado, until a couple days ago the group and their friends and family on the island enjoyed the peace and quiet of the relatively quiet island. However the terrible evil scientist Dr. Eggman had set up a research installation years ago and transformed it into a lair for his evil plans at taking over the world. Dr. Eggman was stealthy with his operations on the island which was all part of a project he called Project Ancients, a project made for the purpose of recovering, utilizing and weaponing the technologies of one of the last forgotten civilizations known simply as the Ancients.

The last time Team Sonic and their friends encountered the evil doctor he brought in some newer versions of old Badnik robots and recovered a robotic champion of the Ancients called Metal Mach! Metal Mach is a very unusual robot because it looks exactly like Metal Sonic, but stands taller and faster! The existence of a robot that resembles the infamous robotic replica of Sonic the Hedgehog has raised tons of questions with seemingly no answers in sight. Sonic was hurt badly in his fight with Metal Mach, but was patched up by Doc Ginger and now he finds himself wearing some bandages and sports tape while trying to keep his hair the way it normally is.

Using the Miles Electric, the heroes have kept in touch with their friends and family back home in Mobotropolis on Westside Island. After having a nice video chat with his parents and Uncle Chuck, Sonic started to rest at Tails Workshop, but then something big happened! "Who could be calling at this hour?" He sarcastically said as he picked up the Miles Electric which was a multipurpose handheld device, it was more or less a small computer. "Sonic! Come in Sonic!" A familiar voice said. Sonic was hardly awake when he answered the call. "Green? What's going on?" The blue hedgehog asked his cousin. "Dr. Eggman is at it again! He's on the island where Cliff and his excavation team are. I contacted Cliff on the A.V.A and was shocked to see Dr. Eggman stealing more relics from the Ancients." Green said as he hastily tried to explain what was going on.

Sonic fully woke up when he heard the name Dr. Eggman. Sonic knew that whenever trouble was going on, that he had to take the heroes calling and save the day, especially with Dr. Eggman in the picture. "I'll gather up the guys and get there A.S.A.P." Sonic said as he got the rest of his team and Amy. Sonic asked Green why he couldn't get to Cliff, and Green explained it was because he and his team were far away from Cliff's Excavation Site and couldn't make it as quickly as Sonic and his team could. Tails got the team in the Tornado and put it on auto-pilot when they reached the island where Dr. Eggman was making his move.

Dr. Eggman was grinning as he watched his Badniks work. "That's right! Work harder my robot slaves!" Dr. Eggman said with a chuckle to his Badniks. But then he saw small yellow bombs, a Piko Piko Hammer, the sound of punching and finally a blue streak zooming by. "Sonic?!" He said in surprise. "You bet Eggman, I'm back and better than ever!" Sonic said as he and his friends grinned while getting ready to face Dr. Eggman. Dr. Eggman looked scared he then got into his Egg Mobile and made a run for it. "After him!" Knuckles shouted as the heroes took off. Amy took out the Miles Electric and sent a message to Green quickly. "Green! We're heading to one of the highways of the Ancients while in pursuit of Dr. Eggman! We'll send you the coordinates the site where his Badniks were shipping relics!" And with that Amy ended her message and joined the rest of her friends while in pursuit of Dr. Eggman.

Chapter 1

Lyric Awakens!

For several minutes Dr. Eggman flew his Egg Mobile while attempting to escape from Amy and Team Sonic. The heroes felt fast while running on one of the old highways built by the Ancients. "Why must you ruin my plans Sonic? I'm use to Green getting in the way, but now I have to deal with you and your little band of freaks." Dr. Eggman said as he accelerated his Egg Mobile. "Well with my old nemesis gone, I had to get a new one. You know how they just come and go in less than a year these days, nothing like the long lasting old ones." Sonic said sarcastically as he and Tails took a right in a fork in the road. Amy and Knuckles went left and were hoping they could get the drop on Dr. Eggman. "I know what you mean, but for me it's just a matter of what nemesis I pick and choose from." Dr. Eggman then turned his Egg Mobile around and was flying backwards. "And now it's time for my surprise attack or simply my ambush!" Dr. Eggman said as he pushed a button, then Metal Mach came roaring behind the heroes.

"Not Metal Mach again!" Knuckles said as the heroes paths joined back together. Metal Mach then punched the ground of the blueish highway which made reddish burning crystals emerge from the highway. The heroes jumped over the crystals and grabbed Rings. "You know, you have to admire how the Ancients perfected summoning Rings and making energy crystals. And I want all the Rings for myself!" Dr. Eggman said as he fired missiles at the team. He was bent on getting them, he even destroyed a road before they split up again. Metal Mach looked at Knuckles and Amy as they escaped him, he then looked at Dr. Eggman. "Well what are you waiting for? After them!" He ordered, and the robot followed his orders. He then shot at a turning point in the highway, and Tails and Sonic crashed into each other and landed in a small clearing. Dr. Eggman pushed a button, and then a bunch of bronze colored robots activated and came out of the trees and other nearby flora. "I found many operating robots created by the Ancients. It took me forever to figure out how to take control of all of them so I can take over the islands. And now my legion of Destruction Troops shall destroy you all!" Dr. Eggman said as he ordered the robots to attack before flying away in his Egg Mobile.

Sonic and Tails fought fiercely against the Destruction Troops. "I've never seen these kinds of robots in action before." Sonic said as he kicked and punched one of the Destruction Troops. "These robots are tough next to any of the Badniks we're use to fighting." Tails said as he tossed several small bombs at the robots and blew them up. "At least we know they can break apart! We might actually get some use from these parts." Tails said as he destroyed another Destruction Troop. Sonic then used a Spin Dash on the last Destruction Troop and then the robot went flying into a wall which broke. The crumbled wall revealed a big and beautiful forest. "Now this is more like it." Sonic said as he and Tails walked out of the clearing.

The two ran and flew across the forest and saw many ruins from the Ancients in the distant. They found blue glowing crowns as they explored, they soon met up with Knuckles and Amy at the entrance to a rather large structure built by the Ancients. "Nice to see you guys again." Sonic said to the hedgehog and echidna. "What happened to Metal?" Tails asked as he thought about the Metal Mach robot. Knuckles scratched his head, "we lost him in the highway. Let's hope he doesn't come back." The red echidna said as he thought about all the trouble that robot created by the Ancients could do.

The four friends looked at two giant doors at the entrance of the structure built by the Ancients. Sonic noticed that a handprint based lock was at the base of the door, he looked at his right hand and then at the lock and tilted his head left and right as he got a good look at it. (Could it be?) He thought as he attempted to put his hand on the handprint lock. But then Amy suddenly stopped him, "don't touch it Sonic! I don't know why… But I have a very bad feeling about this place." She said with concern. Knuckles blinked as he got a good look at the door, he then pointed at carvings of figures on the doors. "Hey guys, look at those carvings!" Everyone looked at them and walked back a bit in surprise. "T-These ancient carvings look just like Sonic and Tails… But how is that possible?" Amy said as she saw the carvings. They looked exactly like Sonic while he was wearing sports tape and had on his scarf and had his hair out of place. And the carving looked exactly like Tails with his new mechanic gloves and goggles, it was baffling that there were so many similarities.

Then all of a sudden without warning Destruction Troops dropped in. But this time there were silver colored robots. Amy and Knuckles asked about the robots and Tails quickly explained what he knew on them in terms they could understand. The four friends quickly took out the squad of Destruction Troops and witnessed some of the dormant troops that were deployed got reactivated by snake like robots. They smiled and were glad the robots were gone, but then suddenly more robots appeared. "These guys are stronger than Badniks, and they just don't give up like SWATbots." Tails said as he saw more troops drop in. This time golden Destruction Troops dropped in, the group counted ten, then twenty and soon fifty. Sonic didn't like the look of this, he knew they could take on the Destruction Troops but more and more kept dropping in. He attempted to open the doors to the ancient tomb but Amy quickly said, "Sonic! Don't open that door, we can take these guys!" She said with deep concern.

Sonic turned back towards his friends and was about to join them, but then Metal Mach appeared. He stepped towards Sonic's friends and then suddenly jumped into the air and crashed in front of them with a shock wave based attack, the three Mobians went flying into Sonic. Metal Mach's purple eyes glowed as he moved his right fist out of the ground where he hit it when he made the shock wave. He then locked his sights on Sonic and his friends. (Target is in close proximity to the tomb of the Last Ancient. He must be stopped!) Metal Mach thought to himself as he looked at the group for a few seconds before using his hands and radio transmissions to order the Destruction Troops to attack. Sonic then opened up the door and got himself and his friends into the tomb Metal Mach walked slowly towards the entrance and Sonic was ready to face the ancient robot. But the doors closed and kept the automatons outside but trapped the Mobians inside. (Target has entered the tomb. Attempting to open the doors.) Metal Mach thought as it pressed his robotic hand against the handprint door lock but it failed to open. So it punched the lock hard and attempted to entrap the heroes in the tomb. (The Last Ancient must not escape or all organic life is doomed.) The robot thought to himself as Dr. Eggman in his Egg Mobile arrived.

Dr. Eggman looked at the entire series of events from above. "Just as I thought." He said as he lightly brushed his right mustache with his right hand. Though the question was, what exactly was Dr. Eggman thinking about? As he and the Destruction Troops stood at the tomb entrance in order to see what happened next, a dark figure overlooked what happened. (That young fool did enter the tomb as I feared.) The being thought to himself as he walked away from the ledge he was on.

Inside of the tomb Sonic and Amy took doorways down on right side of the tomb and Tails and Knuckles took doorways on the left side. Oddly enough the pathways they took were ideal for them to pass through it was almost as if the pathways were built for them specifically. But how could that be possible? They gathered up Rings, Robot Parts and Crowns as they explored the tomb, they followed the pathways to giant mechanisms that made beams of light from a crystal point towards what looked like a giant statue. They also had to use a lot of Bounce Pads which were similar to the giant Springs found throughout the Zones of Mobius. "This whole place is… Odd…" Tails said to Knuckles. "I know what you mean these red crystals I can climb on are placed in… Areas ideal for helping me escape from this place." Knuckles said as they both entered into tubes that dropped them at the area to activate the light beams on their side of the tomb. Amy was having quite a time jumping, "we can hardly do a double jump… But man am I glad my sister Amelia gave me special boots to make me jump higher and run faster." Amy said to Sonic as she jumped high with what would be called a Triple Jump. (Of course Nazo helped unlock my true speed and I've been running faster.) Amy thought to herself as she remembered that she became about as fast as Tails. The hedgehog and echidna got the beams aligned. "Guys… I noticed that the beams turned towards the center of the tomb, I thought it was meant to point towards a way out?" Knuckles said before they met up.

The group met up at the center of the tomb, they slowly walked towards the statue and noticed an exit and deactivated Destruction Troops. Suddenly the light hit the statue, and then electricity surged through the statue, and then a giant snake that looked like a Mobian was released from the metal alloy that made him appear as a statue. He looked like a cyborg wearing a bulky suit that covered his torso, he had on a helmet that was helping him breath right, and he had two robotic arms and the tri-claw fingers of the hands were trapped in some kind of golden orb with blue glowing symbols. There was also a tri-claw on the end of his tail. The serpent took in a deep breath, electricity was visible as it helped reanimate him, and he floated up with some kind of anti-gravity system built into his reddish armor suit. He then opened green reptilian eyes that almost matched his scales in color. He looked at Sonic and then narrowed his eyes in anger, "you!" Upon saying that Sonic pointed at himself, "you and I have unfinished business Sonic the Hedgehog!" The serpent said with an angry hiss.

Sonic got warmed up for a fight, "I don't know what you're talking about. But based on my experience, I'm guessing it's a bad thing." The serpent responded with an angered hiss and looked ready to strike. Sonic then did a Spin Dash and then jumped into the air and was about to use a Homing Attack, but the serpent dodged and let the orb on his tri-claw hands take the force of the attack. Upon hitting the orb Sonic was shocked and then sent flying backwards, the serpent then controlled four harnesses and made an electric ring that captured the four friends. The serpent grinned in satisfaction at his handy work, "a thousand years later and you're still predictable heir of Mach." This surprised Sonic and his friends, they had no idea who this serpent was and yet the serpent seemed to know Sonic and called him an heir to Mach whom as far as they knew was a warrior of the Ancients. "What's he talking about? And how does he know your name Sonic?" Knuckles asked. Sonic blinked in disbelief, he remembered everything that happened to the tiniest of details perfectly, and he was having trouble wrapping his head around the reality of what happened when he attempted to fight the serpent. "I don't know…" Was all he could say to his friendly rival, he then said. "He dodged my Homing Attack… Nothing has dodged my Homing Attack before…" Shortly after saying those words, the serpent pushed a button on his chest and then the Destruction Troops in the tomb reactivated. "Rise my warriors! We have a planet to destroy." He then looked at Sonic and grinned evilly. "Now let's see what a thousand years in prison will do to you in this tomb." The serpent then looked at the exit, raised a tri-claw and fired a powerful green energy beam without fail he then fled from the tomb.

After briefly recapping what just happened, Tails undid the beam by tampering with the device in front of him and noticed yellow energy glowed as he touched the device. Once he deactivated it the group dropped to the ground and took down the few Destruction Troops in the tomb. Tails then quickly reconfigured the devices into devices used by the Ancients called Enerbeam Gauntlets they noticed a statue of what looked like an armored hedgehog. Soon more Destruction Troops appeared, some of them were flying and the team used their new Enerbeams to grab ahold of the flying Destruction Troops and throw them into a wall. The robots broke open a pathway that the group could use their Enerbeams to travel along. They wondered why all of these things were going on, they soon made their escape but were encountered by the serpent.

The serpent shot lasers at them, "I am Lyric! And I feel like my old self again!" He said as he hissed in triumph and then used systems similar to the Enerbeams to lift rocks and broken pillars and throw them as the team traveled on a highway. "There's more fight in you than I thought." The heroes were very confused by how the serpent seemed to know Sonic. As the group traveled along the highway, the serpent caused boulders to fall and when they hit the highway the heroes got sent flying into the skies and would crash land at the edge of the area where Cliff had his excavation site, thanks to the Rings they collected they'd be safe upon impact.

The serpent floated as he thought over what just happened. "I've calibrated my systems to keep up with you as you run like the weakling you are Sonic. Mach should've warned you that the tomb of Lyric the Last of the Ancients would be the beginning of your end." The serpent hissed in evil delight. "I must return to my lair, for there is much work to be done." He said as he flew off towards an unknown location.

Quite a series of events, but who is this Lyric the Last of the Ancients and how does he know Sonic?! Why did he call Sonic an heir of Mach? And just who is this stranger who saw what transpired at the entrance of Lyric's Tomb? Find out as the adventures continue!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Cliff reveals the deadly secrets of Lyric!

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy all crash landed on hard ground at the start of a small canyon of land after Lyric caused boulders to fall. Earlier in the day they chased after the evil serpent that they accidentally set free, they fell because of a big snake Mobian cyborg calling himself Lyric, they escaped from Lyric's Tomb and encountered the being along one of the highways built by the Ancients. Lyric claimed he was the last of the Ancients and he seemed to be familiar with Sonic even though Sonic had never even heard of Lyric before. What's more Lyric claimed that Sonic was an heir to Mach the Champion of the Ancients. While the heroes chased Lyric he caused boulders to fall on the highway of the Ancients, they then went flying into the sky as a result of one of the roads breaking, thankfully they stocked up on Rings while exploring Lyric's Tomb and survived the fall when they landed.

Amy had spent some time looking over maps with her older sister Amelia prior to the group chasing after Dr. Eggman who now seemed to be the least of their worries. As a result of looking over a lot of maps of the area Amy knew where they landed. She knew that they needed to get to Cliff at his Excavation Site and get some answers regarding a member of the Ancients known as Lyric. As the group explored the area they met a turtle who was a farmer and learned that his farmland wasn't doing well because of a mistake his great-grandfather made a thousand years ago when he worked with the Ancients, the turtle's great-grandfather was working on a miracle fertilizer but accidentally got it mixed up with a lethal poison, he hoped there could've been some way to just fix what happened a thousand years ago but it didn't seem possible.

The heroes felt sorry for the turtle and hoped they could find out a way to help him out someday. For now they had to get to Cliff and explain to him what happened. They made it across one of the bridges made by the Ancients and used it in order to get to Cliff's Excavation Site. The group was glad to see that the excavation site was alright, especially after the trouble caused by Dr. Eggman a few days ago when his special bandwidth signal reactivated one of the Destruction Troops that the excavation team recovered and tried to study before it attacked Cliff and Green. Cliff was in one of the lower levels of the excavation site on the surface that wasn't too far from the docks, the heroes were glad to see him, especially Amy. "Cliff! Thank goodness we found you." Cliff decided to joke in response to Amy's words. "I didn't know I was missin' my friends." He said with a grin as a robot floated down to his right, the robot was one of the ones he found long ago while at the excavation site. Amy shook her head for a moment before she asked, "What do you know about an ancient tomb with a giant snake in it?" Cliff tilted his head and said. "I don't know anything about a tomb with a giant snake." He then moved his right hand under his chin while thinking carefully. "However I do know about an ancient prison with a giant snake." He then gestured them over to his table, he then opened up a book from the Ancients. "The snake's name is Lyric, and he is to date the last of the Ancients who inhabited Bygone Island and the surrounding islands. He was locked away to prevent him from destroying all life." He said as he turned open the book to the beginning. "The Ancients as we all know are now long lost. They gathered all the energy they needed from crystals… According to some texts about a thousand years before the fall of the echidnas of the Mystic Ruins, which would be five thousand years ago. The Ancients gathered all the energy they needed with a giant Crystal but Lyric tried to misuse it and they shattered it… According to one of the texts we think we translated right… However they had gathered up eight Crystals that were somehow related to the giant Crystal and used the energy from those crystals as well, some texts suggest that the giant Crystal which is now called the Lost Crystal was what the other Crystals were based off of… Or vice versa… Other translations of the texts suggest that all eight of the Crystals and the Lost Crystal are all from beyond the stars. Regardless of what's been translated properly from their texts one thing is certain, the Ancients lived in perfect harmony with nature in spite of their advanced technology that surpasses most of the technology we have today. Lyric was the only exception, he schemed to use the eight Crystals that were at the pinnacle of the Ancient's civilization. His plans were to gather the crystals and use them to power up an army of machines and destroy all life as we know it! He's a bitter merciless, ruthless, remorseless, dangerous monster!" Cliff said as he explained everything he currently knew on Lyric, he then took a deep breath and said. "It's a good thing Lyric is locked up in his prison located deep in one of the forests of the islands."

Sonic's friends looked at each other, Sonic then said. "Um… I might've by accident released Lyric upon the world." Upon saying this Cliff and his robot helper had their jaws hang open in disbelief. Cliff then closed his mouth and shook his head and narrowed his eyes as he said. "Not cool Sonic." He then quickly thought up of an idea. "But we might be able to stop Lyric! He still needs those Crystals to power and reboot his army. His first move will be to go after them." Cliff said as he turned to a page showing images of the crystals. "If we can get the Crystals first then we can stop Lyric from ever starting his Dark Rise to power from being complete." Amy walked up and looked over the book pages that were open. "How can we find the Crystals?" She asked. Cliff then said after scratching his head for a moment. "I know from this book that if that prison is still operating then there's surely a Crystal somewhere on this island, possibly deeper in the Excavation Site?" He then gestured to his robot helper. "If you need any more help my friend Q-N-C will be glad to help." Q-N-C then stopped floating for a moment. He then looked at Cliff, "what if I need help?" He asked, and of course the heroes offered help if he needed any. Cliff then said before everyone left, "I'll use my A.V.A to contact Amelia and her team and tell them to look into the Lost Crystal on one of the other islands. I'm confident that she can find it since the records we've recovered suggest it's around where she was last seen." Cliff said as he took out his A.V.A in order to get in contact with Amelia while Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy took off with Q-N-C towards the nearby mines of the excavation site.

Q-N-C led the heroes to the nearby mines so they could get the first of the Crystals. Q-N-C helped guide them into the mines and helped them recover more ancient chests and crowns and they helped repair one of the relics at the Excavation Site which was the remains of a giant robot. Once it had become salvageable the robot dropped down an A.V.A and it looked as if it were brand new. "I think that the Ancients left the Shock Crystal to power Lyric's Tomb, it's a blue Crystal that resembles three pillars of rocks on one foot. You can use the A.V.A in order to locate where in these mines the Shock Crystal is being kept." Q-N-C said as he handed the heroes the A.V.A and remembered the Crystal that the Ancients left in this general area. "Are you one of the robots made by the Ancients?" Knuckles asked Q-N-C and the robot nodded yes. "That explains a lot, and it'll make you a big help for the team." The red echidna said as Sonic suddenly Spin Dashed at a wall and broke through it, he used the A.V.A to locate a path to the Shock Crystal and led the group towards it.

The group worked together to overcome some simple obstacles they eventually got the Shock Crystal, Sonic and Tails were eager to find the next Crystal but Knuckles and Amy spotted Foreman Fred and checked on him. He explained to them that a collapse happened in the mine and some of his workers were trapped, the two heroes agreed to help and quickly got to the mining elevator and took it to the mines in order to get the miners out of the mines, Amy would use her Piko Piko Hammer in order to clear rock and Knuckles could use his strength in order to help dig them out. They found some ancient treasure chests and crowns and made sure all of the miners got out safely. Foreman Fred was relieved that his people were safe and said that he was in debt to Knuckles and Amy for saving his people. However just as the heroes were about to leave the mines, Destruction Troops ambushed the two but thanks to their combined might the Destruction Troops were destroyed. Foreman Fred was more than grateful that they saved him and his workers, as a memento of their thanks they decided to give the two heroes an artifact they found in the mines called a Power Glyph. This Power Glyph empowered the heroes by making them faster and it was called by Sonic the Fastball Special because it increased damage they could do while using the Enerbeam.

The group met up at Cliff's tent and he said. "Your next bet for finding another Crystal would be in the Abandoned Research Facility that the Ancients created long ago." Cliff said as he gave them a map to the location. Q-N-C then said, "That's where the Sun Crystal is. It's a yellow Crystal shaped like an octagonal star with four points." The robot said as he helped point the heroes into the general direction to head for. The heroes decided to help out the workers at the Excavation Site by using the robot parts they had in order to get stuff working again and to use it as a form of currency. They also explored some nearby areas in order to recover more of the crowns left behind by the Ancients. Tails wasn't sure why, but he felt that the crowns that the Ancients left behind were important apart from the fact Cliff collected them for research. The group later went to the direction Q-N-C pointed towards. They were surprised that the Crystal they found unlocked the giant door they passed earlier today. They put the Shock Crystal into a lock on the door, and then the door opened they then found a pathway needed to get to the Abandoned Research Facility and soon would head down one of the highways created by the Ancients.

"Wow! Look at that view!" Sonic shouted out as they ran down the highway and got a good coastal view. Tails was thinking as he flew down the highway behind Sonic. "Guys… I've been thinking… Q-N-C knew exactly which Crystal we'd find and what it looked like before anyone else saw it. And he recently told us what this next Crystal we'll find will be like…" Tails said as he was thinking. "Tails he probably was made to catalog the Crystals for the Ancients." Amy suggested. Knuckles however thought about what Tails was getting at, "And those Destruction Troops appeared after we found the Shock Crystal. Tails are you suggesting that Q-N-C is not what he seems?" The echidna said with some anger in his tone. "We can't assume anything right now, but I'm just saying we should keep an eye out on Q-N-C just in case something bad happens." Tails said with caution as they left the highway via a Boost Ring and landed in front of the Abandoned Research Facility.

Whoa! Lyric really is the Last Ancient! And now we know about some powerful Crystals that seem to be a source of power just like the Chaos Emeralds! What's Dr. Eggman up to while this is all going on? And what secrets await in the Abandoned Research Facility? Find out as the adventures continue!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The shocking truth of the Past!

The four heroes landed near the entrance of the Abandoned Research Facility. They quickly looked around the area and found some crowns and chests left behind by the Ancients. The group found some floor tiles when they got stuck. "I guess we need to light up the tiles that're glowing?" Sonic said as he dashed off. "Sonic wait!" His friends shouted, but it was too late. Then the room shook and a bunch of Enerbeam poles dropped down for them to use in order to climb up.

The group then moved on and got to an area that only Amy and Knuckles could climb up. "Looks like we'll need to take care of this in order to get further into the facility." Amy said as she looked up. "Let's hope those snake like robots we encountered earlier are all that's here." Sonic said as Amy and Knuckles took off for the top. Amy was suspicious of the facility as they continued onward, but she put aside her suspicions in order to continue onward. Once they restored power in order to continue onward, Sonic and Tails didn't realize they were on a trap door and they fell but this time Tails hurt his two tails badly. "Ow!" Tails cried out. "Tails!" Sonic said as he came to his best friend's side. "I'll be fine… But I don't think I can fly us up and out of here… Shame we lost Rings from the last fight we had." Tails said as he got up. He and Sonic then informed their friends what happened when the two came to check on them, they decided to split up and get into the facility from different areas.

As Amy and Knuckles explored, they encountered more traps and tons of Destruction Troops, they encountered troops that could fire lasers. As they pressed on they deactivated defenses in the facility and took down the security robots which they believed were placed here by the Ancients in an attempt to keep trespassers out. They ventured down part of what looked like a cargo transport traffic area in the facility as they searched the facility for Rings, hidden chests and crowns and most of all a way to meet up with Tails and Sonic.

They even used a tube system which dropped them down at an area with a sliding bridge. "Now I know what Sonic felt like when he entered the tubes of the Chemical Plant Zone." Amy said as all of a sudden more Destruction Troops dropped down. "Looks like we've got company!" Knuckles said as he engaged the Destruction Troops. He and Amy noticed that the robots were being teleported into the facility, which wasn't good at all.

Later on they made their way to the edge of a facility. Then a robot came down from the sky, it looked like a floating robotic head with a giant glowing eye in the center. The robot looked like it had a head similar to a Gizoid's design but it was different. "Scanning life forms." The robot said as it scanned Amy and Knuckles, it had a female based personality judging from its voice. "Negative on Blue Hedgehog. Pink Hedgehog and Red Echidna are irrelevant." The robot said as she finished her scans. "What do you want with a Blue Hedgehog?" Amy asked as she pulled out her Piko Piko Hammer. "Pure pressure acknowledged. I shall disclose information in 3… 2… The Blue Hedgehog is needed to defeat Lyric. The Heir of Mach is the only hope the future has. And all calculations confirm he is the only one who can stop Lyric's plans to capture the eight Death Crystals." After the robot explained this, Amy and Knuckles thought carefully on what to say next. And they wondered why the robot called the Crystals that the Ancients used Death Crystals. "How do we know we can trust you?" Amy asked the robot. "My name is MAIA, I am the overseer of this facility. If you're allies with the Blue Hedgehog, then I can help guide you to him." The MAIA robot said to the two.

Meanwhile a few levels lower in the facility. Sonic and Tails were exploring and gathering up Rings in order to heal up. They also found more crowns and chests, but they were surprised when they found a giant Ring Gate that had powerful energy glowing from it. "Looks like the only way to move on is through the water… And there's not enough momentum and length for me to run that fast." Sonic said with concern as he looked at the water, which is his greatest fear. The two then ran through the Gate Ring and were suddenly energized with power they never felt before. They could run across water, "Sonic! I'm as fast as you now!" Tails said as they both ran alongside each other at the same speed. "These Gate Rings are fantastic." Sonic said as they kept on running until they got deeper into the facility.

They fought Destruction Troops, and helped turn off security systems in order to help their friends get to the Crystal. As they got deeper into the facility through a series of Enerbeam swings and rails, they encountered MAIA, and Tails was surprised when the robot appeared. "Scanning… Blue Hedgehog and yellow fox confirmed. Welcome back Heir of Mach, it is great to see you and the kitsune again." Sonic blinked a couple times. (Heir of Mach… Why do these Ancients and their robots keep calling me that?) Sonic thought to himself. (Did she call me a kitsune?) Tails thought to himself as he looked at his tails for a moment. "Who are you?" Sonic asked as he gestured to the robot. "I am MAIA, long ago I rebelled against my creator Lyric because of his evil intentions. And my alarm systems have told me that he has returned. I've used my security systems to keep him out best I can, but as long as a Crystal is here he'll send armies to claim it." The ancient robot explained to the heroes. "We're trying to get all of the Crystals, we've found one so far in our quest to stop Lyric." Sonic explained to MAIA. "Processing… There is a map that reveals the location of every Crystal and it can give you access to bypass security in the facilities they're in that were made by the Ancients." After MAIA said this the Mobians got the feeling she was trying to help them out for real. "Okay! So where is this map?" Tails asked. "Not where but when. Mach saw to it that the map vanished long ago, but this machine can transport you to a time before the map disappeared." MAIA said as she showed them the prototype time machine.

"I've had some unusual experiences in time traveling… But we have to stop Lyric." Sonic said with a determined look on his face, he had a feeling that Lyric was an evil unlike anything he faced before. And after his experience with Neo Dr. Eggman he wasn't willing to take any chances in stopping this ancient evil. "Get these machines running and we'll find the map." Tails said as he looked ready for a fight. "I'm sorry but it won't work. The facility generator is offline, without the generator we can't send you back in time." Sonic and Tails looked at each other with awkward expressions because they felt that they had something to do with the generator being offline. "So where is the generator?" Sonic asked, as he scratched his nose. "The generator is in the upper levels." MAIA said as she looked up. Sonic and Tails looked up and saw Amy and Knuckles wave down to them. "Amy! Knuckles! MAIA is going to help us get the Crystals. But we need the generator up and running first!" Sonic shouted up to his friends. "We're on it!" Amy said as she and Knuckles began heading for the generator.

Amy and Knuckles fought many Destruction Troops and found hidden Crowns and treasure chests left behind by the Ancients as they worked hard to get the generator back on. "Amy look! There's the Sun Crystal!" Knuckles said as he spotted the Crystal while climbing. "We may have to use the Crystal in order to get power to the generator." Amy said as she got to the top and helped get Knuckles up. "Looks like we've got company!" Knuckles said as he punched his fists together and looked at the Destruction Troops. The two smashed up the robots and worked hard to restore power to the facility.

Meanwhile down below, Sonic and Tails had questions for MAIA. "Why did you call me a kitsune?" Tails asked. MAIA then answered, "The word kitsune is Japanese for fox. However it also is primarily used to describe a nine tailed fox or any fox with more than one tail. I detect a power within those tails that grants you flight that is very unusual." MAIA explained, and before anyone else could ask another question. The generator came to life, the underground levels of the facility glowed and MAIA got ready to activate the time machine. She flew into the machine and locked into place. "I am activating the portal, however it'll take some time to calculate the coordinates. Upon completion I'll send you both through the portal." MAIA said as the portal started to activate, Sonic nodded to her.

Before anything else happened, a somewhat familiar voice said. "Not so fast Sonic." Sonic and Tails both turned around, they were surprised to see what looked like; Shadow the Hedgehog! But it couldn't possibly be Shadow, Shadow died when he saved Green the Hedgehog on Dr. Eggman's last Death Egg that was destroyed when Emerl the Gizoid exploded. But could it be possible Shadow somehow survived? After all he did survive when he fell from Colonial ARK, and he survived his intense fight with Metal Green that made him lose memories. So could it be possible that Shadow was somehow back? "Shadow? What are you doing here?!" Tails asked in shock as he saw what looked like Shadow. However there seemed to be slight differences in Shadow's appearance from what they remembered. "I don't have time to play Shadow. I'm busy saving the world." Sonic said to what appeared to be his rival. "Saving the world? You? Don't make me laugh Sonic, you're pathetic and weak. And you know what makes you weak, your loyalty to your pathetic friends." Shadow said as he gestured to Sonic and Tails. Sonic didn't know what was going on, but he knew Shadow wasn't messing around. "You're not going through that portal! I'm going to show you just how weak you truly are, especially without any backup from losers like that fox." Suddenly Shadow went into a Spin Dash and sent Sonic flying into a wall.

(He's stronger than I remember…) Sonic thought to himself as he got up. "Here I come Sonic!" Shadow said as he fired what appeared to be Chaos Spears but they were colored differently. "We're not going down without a fight." Sonic said as they ran, however he noticed when Shadow ran there was red energy surrounding his body. "Shadow what you are doing?! We're your friends! Don't you remember us and the adventures we had?" Tails shouted out as he and Sonic tried to fight Shadow. "I can be game for a tussle or a race every now and then. But this is serious Shadow." Sonic said as he got into a fist fight with Shadow. "You're such a fool, you truly don't remember me." Shadow said as he kicked Sonic hard and the blue hedgehog went into the time portal. Tails and Shadow both entered the portal. "Sonic! We're in the Ice Age!" Tails said as he helped lift Sonic out of snow. There was a lot of ice, "I call upon the ancient powers of Chaos. Chaos, Spear!" Shadow shouted as he fired red Chaos Spears. Sonic and Tails were confused, surely Shadow used Chaos powers but he never before used words like 'call upon ancient powers'. There was something very off, and they got the feeling this wasn't the real Shadow, they both worked together and knocked him down. "You won Sonic!" Tails said, just then Shadow got up and kicked Tails in his jaw and sent him through a time portal that opened, he then jumped in after Tails and Sonic followed. "Looks like we're in prehistoric times." Sonic said as he saved Tails from a Chaos Spear attack. "Which one? Prehistoric Mobius from Mammoth Mogul's time or the first prehistoric time?" Tails asked as they hid behind giant bones. "You two can't get away from me! I know everything about you! Have you forgotten what I can do?" Shadow said as he started glowing red. "Chaos… Blast!" Shadow shouted out as he unleashed red energy that vaporized a lot of rock, it just barely missed Sonic and Tails from their hiding spot. "Since when could he do that with his Rings on?" Sonic said as he got ready to fight Shadow again. The only time Sonic and the Freedom Fighters ever saw Shadow use a Chaos Blast was when he fought Enerjak, and when that happened Shadow took off his Inhibitor Rings. Seeing this Shadow Imposter use Chaos Blast with his Inhibitor Rings on was very surprising.

"I should just end you here!" The Shadow Imposter said as he kicked and punched them both hard. However they had a good amount of Rings in the area and used them to keep on their feet. Sonic saw Tails get hurt badly, the hedgehog resembling Shadow energized a Chaos Spear and looked at Sonic before getting ready to use it. "Leave!" Sonic shouted as he jumped and began some Homing Attacks. "Him!" He shouted out as he made his second attack on the Shadow Imposter, the Shadow Imposter lost his grip on his Chaos Spear and it disappeared. "Alone!" Sonic shouted as his body glowed blue with some kind of power, he then charged at his enemy and made a shockwave similar to the one used by the Metal Mach robot. "That's more like it. Now the real fight for your life has begun." The Shadow Imposter said as he and Sonic began fighting more. Sonic realized that he somehow tapped into a new kind of power he never had before, he then got Tails and came up with a plan. "Tails, I've got a plan to take this Faker down." Sonic said before he whispered his plan to Tails. Tails grinned and got his small bombs he packed ready. Tails then flew into the air and shouted out, "Hey Shadow Imposter!" Tails said as he threw some small bombs around the hedgehog. "You'll pay for this useless attack!" The Shadow Imposter said as Sonic suddenly hit him with another one of those attack combos, Sonic and Tails worked together to really hit the imposter. Sonic's newfound attack was undeniably strong. Hitting the Shadow Imposter with it a few times significantly weakened the adversary, Sonic then saw a time portal open up and his last kick sent the Shadow Imposter flying into it. "Where'd the Shadow Imposter go?" Sonic said, and then MAIA spoke to Sonic using his A.V.A, even though he had it closed. "He has been sent into the near future. Not yours, but mine." Sonic and Tails were confused on the whole thing, neither one was sure who they really fought and why he resembled Shadow. "You must enter the time portal now before it closes." MAIA urgently said to the two, they then jumped into the portal.

The two then appeared back in the Research Facility, but it was fully operational and looked relatively new. Tails by accident ended up in what looked like a factory production line furnace, "I guess MAIA needs to work on her accuracy?" Sonic said as he saw Tails trying to outrun a slab of molten metal. "This must be the Research Facility from the time when Lyric controlled it?" Tails said as he guessed on what point in time they were in. Sonic encountered Destruction Troops as he smashed a control panel in order to help shutdown the security systems on one of the doors.

After Sonic freed Tails, they took a moment to think things over. "I wonder… What this place was like before Lyric took it over?" Sonic asked Tails as they explored the facility and were surprised there weren't that many Destruction Troops so far. "I don't know… I have to say this time travel stuff feels… A little, weird." Tails said as he looked around. "I time traveled a lot when I explored Little Planet back in the day. Going from the past, present and future so rapidly was very intense, granted I went there for fun and Amy followed me, and there was the time Robotnik sent me into another Zone that was like prehistoric Mobius… Or was it prehistoric Mobius? I forget. But that was still quite an experience… But nothing compared to when Sally and I used the Time Stones on a floating island." Sonic said as he remembered the times he went back in time. "I remember that you said you guys once time traveled in order to prevent the First Robotnik War. But you only were able to save Rosie the Woodchuck." Tails said as they explored a bunch of giant gear labyrinths in the facility.

They then went into what looked like the time travel machine room they then saw what looked like MAIA. "MAIA it's good to see you again." Sonic said to the robot. The MAIA robot then scanned the two, "lifeforms not recognized. Though you biologically are related to Champion Mach Hedgehog and Master Kobayashi Prower, in short you're related to them." MAIA said to the two, it was clear that this was the first time they met MAIA from her perspective. Sonic and Tails looked at each other and were a little speechless, then suddenly a fireball and Chaos Spear passed by them. "Who are you intruders?!" A familiar voice asked, and then another voice said. "Are you spies working for Lyric?!" Sonic and Tails turned around and were surprised to see an older blue hedgehog and an older yellow fox that looked very similar to them both. However the blue hedgehog had a very strong resemblance to the Shadow Imposter in terms of his stance and hairstyle. The fox had nine tails that waved in the air, his ears had scars on them and he wore a red kimono. "Tails… Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Sonic asked his friend. "I am… But I'm not entirely sure what we're seeing." The kitsune aka nine tailed fox moved towards the two, he then chanted and a ball of energy floated around the two. "They are not of our time." The fox said as he narrowed his eyes. "Yeah about that…" Sonic said as he looked down for a moment, the kitsune then aimed two of his tails at Sonic and Tails. "State your business time jumpers. Or perish for altering time with your presence." His tails looked very sharp. "Kobayashi, I have a feeling these are our heirs?" The hedgehog said as he kept his arms crossed. Sonic then said, "Well you see… To make a long story short Lyric is trying to destroy our world, which is why we've come back to the past to save your future which is our present." Sonic said as he was trying to think up of a way to make a long story short. "And MAIA used that time machine to send us back in time so we could find a map to locate where all the Crystals are in our timeline. She said it disappeared and we're trying to stop Lyric from finding them first." Tails said as Kobayashi and the older blue hedgehog looked at each other for a moment.

Kobayashi withdrew his tails, "Processing… Mach, that actually makes logical sense." MAIA said to the older blue hedgehog. "Then we'll allow them to find this map, but after that they return to their time." Mach the Hedgehog said to MAIA. "Wait… You're Mach the Champion of the Ancients?" Sonic said to Mach the Hedgehog. "Nice to know my clan remembers my name. But I find it shameful one so young is doing a man's job." Mach said as he walked towards a console. Kobayashi looked at Tails, he had a stern look on his face. "You haven't even matured into five tails yet. I guess marrying a normal fox was doom for the strength of my future heritage." Kobayashi said to Tails as he turned his back on the young fox. Sonic went to Tails side, "related or not. You can't say that to Tails, he's done more in eight years than you've ever done." Sonic said to Kobayashi with a glare. Kobayashi watched Mach type on a computer console very fast, Mach then slammed his hand down. "Looks like we've got to stop Lyric ourselves, but it's nothing the four of us can't handle." Mach said to Kobayashi. "You know. I think you mean five, MAIA is on our team after all." Sonic said to Mach as he was warming up. "I was regarding only the adults and machines children." Mach said to Sonic in a harsh tone. "The other member of our team will arrive." MAIA said as the Metal Mach robot arrived with a Crystal. "Great job Metal Mach looks like I made a good robot after all." Mach said to his robotic double. "Lyric is close to finishing his robot armies. I've gotten information to help us shut down the Destruction Troops." Metal Mach said as he tucked away the Crystal.

Sonic and Tails seemed baffled by what they just heard and saw. MAIA then spoke to them, "please forgive my friends. Mach believes children shouldn't fight in adult matters. And Master Kobayashi is one who comes from a family that expects the best." MAIA could tell they had more questions. "As for the Metal Mach robot, Mach is a mechanical genius. His development in robots is amazing, and his combat skills are unmatched in the world. Only Nazo himself is stronger than Mach and Metal Mach." Sonic and Tails looked a bit surprised to hear this, "I guess that explains where Uncle Chuck gets the brains and I get the strength in the family." Sonic said with a grin on his face. "I will help guide you to the map room. Mach and Kobayashi will deal with Lyric's security forces. Metal Mach will assist us." MAIA said as they were getting ready to move on. However Destruction Troops showed up, "Crap! We've wasted time talking with these children. Now we've got to protect the children!" Mach said as he glowed blue and jumped into action with his speed. Kobayashi made his tails sharp as blades, the two looked amazing. Sonic and Tails went into action as well, they both used Spin Dash and hand-to-hand combat moves. Tails threw small bombs at the robots and Sonic tried out the new ability he learned while fighting the Shadow Imposter.

"What the?" Mach said as he saw Sonic run. "Nothing like smashing robots. For me smashing robots is a fun filled day." Sonic said as he kicked off the head of a Destruction Troop. Mach was baffled by what he just saw, Kobayashi's facial expression didn't change. Soon they destroyed all of the robots and Sonic looked excited as ever, "what did you two just do?" Mach asked as he scratched his head. "We just did what we usually do, smashing up killer robots working for a madman trying to rule the world." Sonic said as he scratched his nose while grinning. "Don't you realize you could've been killed? Even if you had magical Rings?!" Mach asked in a harsh tone of voice. "Believe it or not, this is nothing new to us. We've fought robots for a long time. Sonic first smashed up Badniks when he was like eight." Tails said in a casual manner. "Has he always used all of these powers?" Kobayashi asked with interest. "Not quite… He started learning the Homing Attack a couple years back. His hand-to-hand combat has improved big time, partially because of the time we spent training with Emerl the Gizoid." Tails said as he was recalling Sonic's powers over the years. "And recently I learned that triple Homing Attack combo to make my Sonic Boom! And that triple Spin Dash combo as well." Sonic said as he looked very proud of himself. Kobayashi then said, "Tails. What all have you been able to do?" Tails then thought for a moment. "Well… I started learning the Spin Jump, Spin Dash and just basic jumping a couple years back. I'm also handy with machines I've made some fantastic stuff such as transformable biplanes. I even made devices to help with my hand-to-hand combat. And I've mastered being able to use my tails like clubs or shields, I owe a lot of that to Knuckles." Tails said as he was thinking about what he could do while he used his tails to fly for a short while.

Mach and Kobayashi looked at each other. "What made you learn such combat early in your lives?" Mach asked the children. "A deranged madman took over our childhood home. Then with our friends led by me and Princess Sally Acorn we spent like five years fighting the madman and his legion of robots called Badniks, and totally kicked his Ro-butt-nik." Sonic said with a proud grin on his face as they walked deeper into the Weapon Factory. "War can cause children to fight… What adults would allow such a thing?" Mach said with discuss in his voice. "None, practically all of them were kidnapped and turned into robots. We fought the Robotnik Empire on our own accord." Tails said as he flew around. (They lost everything to a Robotnik… And yet they learned to fight and took out a madman… Clearly there must've been an army.) Mach thought to himself. "How large was your army?" He asked as he jumped across some platforms with Sonic. "Well… There was me of course, and Princess Sally, Antoine the Coyote, Rotor the Walrus, then later on Bunnie Rabbot joined because she was made a cyborg by Robotnik's devices. Then we got Nicole when she was a handheld computer, and then Tails and Amy joined up. Though every now and then we met another Freedom Fighter group which typically had five to six members, but in the case of the Wolf Pack there was a couple more." Sonic said like it wasn't a big deal in his tone of voice. (Unbelievable… Mere children in strike team numbers defeated an empire all on their own…) Mach thought to himself before he said, "how big was this Robotnik Empire?" He asked. "Big, but not by much when compared to the entire world, do you know any Robotniks?" Tails explained as he also asked a big question. "We do, but the Robotnik clan is kind. They seek much knowledge and hearing that one fell to corruption in the future and made an empire is troubling." Kobayashi said as they met the great-grandfather of the turtle that Tails and Sonic met while they explored the facility. Sonic and Tails then asked if the turtle made sure he got the right plants to make his new family farm, and the turtle actually got the wrong plants. He then made sure he got all of the right plants, thanks to Sonic and Tails the turtle would have a farm.

"Please don't mess with time more than you two have too." Mach said as they went deeper into the facility. Sonic then said, "I can understand what you mean. But come on, only a couple changes can't hurt." Sonic said as he and Mach ran alongside each other with Metal Mach close behind. "You truly don't know yet… Sonic, you and others completely altered the very original time line. You three altered time to the point where a paradox happened and the timeline was completely reset into the mess you call the present." Mach said angrily. Sonic was baffled by these claims he lowered an eyebrow and asked, "How do you know that? I mean I've only used the Time Stones on two adventures and the most I changed was making sure a nanny wasn't turned into a robot. And maybe making a guy bald and causing my arch nemesis to have a robotic arm." Sonic said as he was thinking about the only changes he did in the past when he time traveled. "I know because I'm a Knight of Chronos. I've seen much and every time something or someone is about to severely alter history I make sure they don't by any means needed. Justice and freedom must be upheld by any means necessary." Mach said with a look in his eyes that reminded Sonic of the Shadow Imposter.

They went into the security chambers where powerful Destruction Troops that could roll into a Spin Dash were located. "These guys can use the Spin Dash!" Sonic said as he got shocked by the electricity from one of the Destruction Troops, after the robots were destroyed the heroes shut down the security system only for more Destruction Troops to show up and then get destroyed by the heroes. The heroes were able to get bypass the security of the facility after shutting down automated systems. The group then made their way to where Lyric was in his facility by using his Enerbeam security systems, they looked up at the robot he was inside and waited for the right moment to act.

Quite the secrets have been revealed and even more are on the way. Find out what happens in the next adventure!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

An unusual reunion, that's also a first impression?

Sonic and Tails didn't really know much on their ancestry. But seeing that two of their ancestors in person was big, especially since these ancestors had a lot of powers and worked with the Ancients. Right now the four beings and Mach's robotic replica were looking up at one of the many war machines Lyric was creating. However Lyric himself was in the machine they were looking at, they kept quiet. "The Ancients will rue the day they took my Death Crystals and hid them from me. Now that I have their map, I'll find where all of the Death Crystals are located." Lyric said as he used his robotic suit to float in the air towards the head of one of the unfinished robots. A robot that looked a lot like Q-N-C was floating beside him. "Soon those Death Crystals will be mine once again. And then I'm going to annihilate the Ancients and everything they hold dear." Lyric used his highly trained eyes to make sure he didn't see any imperfections in the armor of the robot. Mach wanted to hit the serpent with a Chaos Spear, but he refrained from doing it and kept hidden with the rest of his allies. Q-N-C then talked with his master, "Um… Sir… Don't you think we should just let them off with a warning this time, I mean there was that whole mess with the Lost Crystal that they found with the other Crystals, and that was about four thousand years ago and long before the echidnas angered Chaos." Q-N-C looked nervous as he asked. Lyric narrowed his eyes as he turned to his assistant, "did the Ancients warn me that working to unlock the power of the Death Crystals would make me sick? Did they warn me that the Death Crystals are called what they are for a reason?" Lyric's robotic tail tri-claw covered the back of Q-N-C as the serpent came face to face with his assistant. Q-N-C looked terrified. "Did they warn me that their feeble organic medicines would never heal me? No they didn't." He looked truly angry. "I had to make this, in order to keep myself alive!" He hissed as his right robotic arm pointed at his metal body suit. "Technology is the only thing you can trust. And I shall use my technology to destroy all organic life that I can't control. And then I'll rebuild this world piece by robotic piece." Lyric said as he flew away from the robots and headed elsewhere.

"Looks like we'll have to climb up in order to get that map." Sonic said eagerly. "We should strike at Lyric now while we have the chance!" Mach said as he almost dashed off towards the area Lyric headed towards. "Another time my friend, for now we must climb up and deal with the Destruction Troops." Kobayashi Prower said as he used four of his tails to restrain Mach. Mach looked at his friend and then back to where Lyric was making his exit. The hedgehog reluctantly agreed and followed his friend and the others upwards. The giant robots were covered with Crowns that were acting as an energy source for the welding lasers. The heroes took the Crowns and destroyed many Destruction Troops as they looked for the map. But it wasn't anywhere in the giant factory, however they were able to get to the top of a robot and reprogrammed it so it wouldn't ever be used for destruction, it then used one of its giant hands to guide them on to the right path towards the map room because they asked it to do just that. MAIA later took control of the robot and worked on using it to destroy parts of the facility.

While on an elevator Sonic said, "I wonder if Lyric sheds his skin like real snakes." He asked out of curiosity. "He most certainly does, I've seen him shed many times." Kobayashi Prower said as they waited for the elevator to stop. Sonic scratched his head, "Then where does it all go if he's in that robot suit all the time?" The hedgehog wondered. "For the last few thousand years… He's been having it grounded up as an ingredient in a nutrition paste he eats. I know because I designed that function in his suit upon his request." Mach kept a straight face as he explained that. Sonic and the others reached the bottom when the blue hedgehog said, "eeeewww!" The heroes then moved on through the Weapons Factory. They disabled many of the systems and sabotaged the production line. They were going to use an elevator to make their escape but it went down and crashed into the facility, this started a chain reaction of explosions and the heroes quickly worked together in order to escape.

Up above Lyric was looking at the map with the location of the Death Crystals. Then all of a sudden he heard what sounded like explosions and an earthquake, "what's happening?!" He said as he looked around his command center. Q-N-C then showed up, "Um… Sir… One of the MAIA units has gone rogue and taken control of the Sentinel General." Q-N-C said meekly, Lyric was angered upon hearing this he quickly moved forward and hissed. "What? How?" He was very concerned hearing this. Then all of a sudden a voice said, "Lyric." The serpent turned around and saw Sonic and Tails. "Who are you?" He asked with a hint of concern in his tone. Sonic smirked as he said, "you and I have unfinished business." Sonic then went into a Spin Dash followed by a Homing Attack. Sonic held back Lyric while Tails went towards the console with the Death Crystal Map. Lyric was surprised to be hit with so many attacks, (Mach!) Was the only person Lyric could think of in that short confusing moment as the two trespassers took his map, he then activated his tri-claws and was ready to cut the trespassers into pieces. But they were too fast for him and made their escape and activated the emergency lockdown button which locked Lyric into his command center. Mach then arrived, "Lyric. You have violated the sacred oaths you took for too long. With my heir at my side, I hereby arrest you." Mach said to the angered serpent as Lyric tried breaking the door. Sonic narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lyric. "See you in a thousand years." Sonic said to Lyric as he finally understood now how Lyric knew him and why he was called the Heir of Mach.

The time traveling heroes left while Mach, Metal Mach and Kobayashi dealt with Lyric and imprisoned him. MAIA met up with Sonic and Tails at the time machine, "I trust everything went well." She said as she deactivated the Sentinel General robot. "Lyric is being handled by Mach and the others. And we got the map." Tails said as he showed MAIA the map. "Great work, I've received word from Q-N-C that he's willing to help deactivate the rest of the Weapons Factory and the research facility." Sonic was glad to hear this from MAIA because it made them feel relief in regards to Q-N-C from their time line. Sonic then thought for a moment, "Wait! I need to know how to defeat Metal Mach. In my time line a mad scientist reprogrammed Metal Mach for evil. How can we disable him?" Sonic asked the robot while remembering the fact Metal Mach in this era was a good robot. "I'll send the information to your A.V.A before you two return to the present. I'll also send in messages from Mach and Kobayashi that they sent to me just now." MAIA said as she transmitted the data to Sonic and Tails' A.V.A units and the Miles Electric. She then activated the portal and used it to send the two back to the present. "You two will be long remembered for your heroics in helping us stop Lyric in our time. We hope you'll stop him in your time." MAIA said to them before they left for the Present.

Later in the Present

Team Sonic and Amy reunited at Cliff's Excavation Site. Amy and Knuckles showed Sonic and Tails the Sun Crystal and Sonic and Tails showed them the Death Crystal Map that they recovered from the past. The friends took a moment to relax and talked over what all happened and were glad everything now made sense with Lyric knowing who Sonic is long before he met Lyric for the first time.

Meanwhile at the Abandoned Research Facility, Lyric arrived at the generator where the Sun Crystal was located. He angrily searched and ripped apart metal as he looked for it. "Where is it?!" He shouted out. While Lyric was looking around, Dr. Eggman was overhead and entered into one of the holes in the ceiling of the Abandoned Research Facility. He then grinned as he saw a golden opportunity, he had his Egg Mobile float down while he stretched out on the left side of it and casually said, "Lose something?" Lyric quickly turned around as Dr. Eggman grinned while rubbing his thumb across his fingers. "Who are you?" He asked the fat man. "Eggman, Dr. Eggman. And I'm the guy who made sure you'd get set free so I could learn the secrets of the Ancients and their technology. Thankfully I got these Destruction Troops all working fine." Dr. Eggman said with excitement as he gestured towards Destruction Troops that arrived. "And from now on you can call me boss, because I'm going to propose a position for you in the glorious Eggman Empire as one of my new Egg Bosses." Dr. Eggman grinned his big grin. However Lyric glared at Dr. Eggman the whole time, (who does this fat human fool think he is? What foolery is this Eggman? And he has the gal to call himself my boss… We'll see how powerful he really is.) Lyric then pressed a button on his chest and all of a sudden the Destruction Troops twitched and then suddenly surrounded the doctor and aimed their energy swords at him. Lyric floated above Dr. Eggman and looked down on him, "who do you think made these robots. Hoping that someday a fool such as you will find them?" Lyric hissed as he looked at the doctor. Dr. Eggman was very concerned, "you pathetic waste of carbon." Lyric said as he clamped his tri-claws a few times. Dr. Eggman looked around for a moment, "D-Did I say boss? I meant equal partners." Dr. Eggman said as he held out his hands towards the sky. Lyric glared at him, the Ancient was clearly not impressed. "Fine we'll call it sixty, fifty. You drive a hard bargain." Dr. Eggman said while sounding annoyed. Lyric showed his vicious teeth, "silence! You're more infuriating than that hedgehog." Lyric was clearly ready to take down Eggman. Dr. Eggman however heard one all too familiar word from the Ancient, he then began rubbing his hands together. "Hedgehog? Is he giving you any trouble?" The Doctor said with a hint of sarcasm. Lyric then looked towards the doctor and was nearly face to face, "He trapped me on the eve of my conquest. Thanks to him Mach and the other Ancients were able to get me into that prison. And now I suspect he has my map." Lyric said with anger as he looked at the sky for a moment. Lyric then thought of something that could make this foolish but obviously intelligent human to do his bidding, "If you can get my map back for me. I'll let you live." Lyric hissed at Dr. Eggman. Dr. Eggman scratched his mustache as he thought over the possibilities of this new alliance being offered to him.

Wow! Quite a time traveling adventure. But the adventure isn't over yet, and what will become of Dr. Eggman?! And what Crystal will our heroes find next and why are the Crystals called Death Crystals? Find out as the adventure continues.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Nothing like a joyride on the River before facing the Worms

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy looked over the map with Cliff and Q-N-C and found that the next Crystal was located in an area called The Pit. "What can you tell us about The Pit?" Sonic asked Cliff. Cliff scratched his beard, "We haven't really been on that side of the island as much as where we are now. There was some kind of mining operation in the area from Lyric's forces long before he returned. They were mining primarily for those crystals we see throughout the ruins of the Ancients." Cliff said as he showed some of his samples of the crystals that Knuckles used to climb around the ruins of the Ancients thanks to his knuckle spikes. "Lyric was using Driller Worms in order to locate the Flame Crystal." After Q-N-C explained this the heroes looked at each other for a moment. "Q-N-C, we've heard MAIA and Ancients refer to the Crystals in general as Death Crystals. Why are they called that?" Tails asked the old robot. Q-N-C mimicked gulping when he was asked. "Well… You see… The Crystals have a very dangerous property to them which can cause a form of poisoning that nothing can cure through organic methods." Q-N-C then thought for a moment before taking out a book he recovered from the ruins of the Ancients. "Long ago the Ancients didn't have much energy sources because of how damaging power sources could be to an ecosystem. But one night on the island meteors fell from the skies. These meteors were the Crystals, each one of them seemed to embody an aspect of life. For example the Tidal Crystal is ocean waters, the Flame Crystal is life giving fire and the Sun Crystal gives sunlight." Q-N-C seemed to jitter a little as he was explaining the truth behind the Death Crystals. "But we all learned the hard way the true nature of the Crystals was not to give life but to take it by the very life giving elements." Q-N-C showed an image in the book that showed utter devastation. "How does that work? I thought you said the Crystals had the power to give life?" Amy asked. "True… But elements that give life can also take it away. For example a tidal wave made from the life giving ocean can destroy life. And the sun can become unbearably destructive. And of course fire is fire… Enough said." Q-N-C said as he showed in the book images of the first three Death Crystals he mentioned destroying land in such a manner.

The heroes didn't like hearing this at all. "How did the Ancients make the Death Crystals a good thing?" Knuckles asked. "Well… The Master Crystal came a long while after the Death Crystals came, and the Ancients learned how to use the Master Crystal in order to control the other Crystals, but in doing so one of the Death Crystals broke into an eighth Death Crystal." Q-N-C said as he showed images in his book. "When my master Lyric first attempted to make use of the Crystals for himself five thousand years ago, the Master Crystal was shattered and he was tasked with getting the other Death Crystals to work right. However as he researched the Death Crystals, it caused crystallization to happen on islands much like that of Troll magic. Ultimately the power of the Death Crystals poisoned him and the other Ancients made sure the Death Crystals haven't been used as anything more than an energy source since then. Lyric was furious when the Death Crystals were taken from him. Though truth be told he's been a little too power hungry…" After Q-N-C explained all of that the heroes asked if they'd get poisoned from the Death Crystals. He assured them that wouldn't happen unless they tried drawing energy from the Crystals into their bodies much like when they used the Chaos Emeralds to take on Super Forms. In order to get to The Pit the heroes would have to take the river known as River Rush, they wasted no time getting to there.

The heroes were confident, they now knew what had to be done and more than ever before they were determined to stop Lyric. They took off and would help Chef Woody the Beaver reclaim his food supplies from Destruction Troops that were determined to get resources from the docks, they were rewarded by Woody with a Power Glyph. Later on they went to one of the doors that was locked by a Crystal. They used the Sun Crystal in order to open the lock, on the other side they met Salty the Hippo and he agreed to let them use his boat if they could find the parts to fix it up. They explored around the general area and found that the parts needed were held by Destruction Troops and they epically destroyed the Destruction Troops.

Later on in the River Rush, the heroes piloted Salty's ship and were surprised that there were missile systems popping up in the river. They used the water weapon systems of the boat in order to take out the missiles. "Ohohohoho!" A familiar laugh was heard as they piloted the round boat. "Dr. Eggman!" They said. "That's right you furry fools, I'm back and I've got a few new tricks up my sleeves!" He said as he pushed a few buttons and started firing missiles. "We don't have time for this Eggman!" Sonic said as he drove the boat by the Egg Mobile very fast. However the boat very quickly got caught in the current of the nearby waterfall, the heroes went off it with the boat. "Noooooo!" Dr. Eggman shouted as they fell with their map that located the Crystals. (Their gone… Their actually gone…) the doctor sadly thought to himself as he decided to leave the area. However he underestimated the resourcefulness of his enemies, Tails jumped out and quickly grabbed Sonic and Amy while Knuckles quickly jumped out in order to glide. They saw an Enerbeam rail system over the falls and quickly used Enerbeams in order to safely escape from the fall. They rode along the railing system and ended up on one of the highways created by the Ancients, they then ran down the Ancient Highway and would get to a jungle for a breather.

Meanwhile at the Abandoned Research Facility, Lyric was typing on a touch screen. "Um… Hello Lyric I'm back…" Dr. Eggman said to the agitated serpent, the doctor was very nervous as Lyric looked at him. "I have some good news and bad news…" But before the doctor could say anything else Lyric approached him and said. "I see that you don't have my map." He said as he closed a tri-claw in front of Dr. Eggman's face. "Well… Now that we have the bad news out of the way, you'll be pleased to know that Sonic and his friends are dead." However Lyric wasn't impressed with Dr. Eggman's news at all. "I expected you to fail me." He hissed in a tone that sounded like he didn't really care much. "My Driller Worms are searching all of the islands for the Death Crystals even as we speak. They'll succeed where you have failed." Lyric gestured to a computer monitor as he explained this. (Death Crystal? Just what are these Crystals the Ancients used?) Dr. Eggman thought to himself as he looked at the gigantic robots on the monitor.

Elsewhere, Sonic and Knuckles got ready to head into The Pit, however Amy and Tails went ahead of them and ended up going on a mine cart ride of their lives. Sonic & Knuckles worked hard fighting through the Destruction Troops in the area. Thanks to MAIA the security systems of the facility were offline and the heroes were able to zoom by a lot of nasty things. However Sonic & Knuckles had to fight a massive mining robot that was trying to destroy them as it produced tons of Destruction Troops. They destroyed it by using their Enerbeams to throw Destruction Troops at it.

The two later went into the hole it dug and got deeper into the mining facility that Lyric had installed thousands of years ago. As they explored the mining facility of The Pit they found Ancient Crowns, they reunited with Amy and Tails later on. However they all reunited in one of the wind tunnels and got blown on to a railing system and narrowly escaped a Driller Worm in the area. "That thing is huge!" Sonic said as they ran by it. "I don't think we can take that thing head on." Knuckles said as they all ran down the railing system and headed on to a type of highway system similar to the ones used across the island. Eventually they reached the end of the road and landed only feet away from the heart shaped Flame Crystal. "Looks like we've got it." Tails said with a grin as he was about to try and get the Flame Crystal. However the Driller Worm appeared and swallowed up the Crystal.

"I think you spoke to soon Tails." Amy said as they jumped back and got ready for a brawl. The Driller Worm was tough, however they were able to defeat it by throwing Destruction Troops into its mouth and then using their Enerbeams to pull it down and hit it with everything they had. It took a few rounds but they ultimately destroyed the Driller Worm head and the Flame Crystal floated out of the machine and hovered in front of them. They took the Flame Crystal and Tails said, "You know guys, I think the Crystals don't want to be used by Lyric?" He said. "What makes you say that?" Sonic asked. "Well the Death Crystals and Chaos Emeralds have a few things in common. And we know the Chaos Emeralds have a will of their own to an extent, so maybe the same is true for the Death Crystals?" Tails suggested. "Sounds likely… But we've got to go." Sonic said as they all started getting out of The Pit.

Several minutes later, Lyric and Dr. Eggman arrived at The Pit and found the destroyed Driller Worm wreckage. Lyric knew that this meant Sonic and his friends were still alive. Dr. Eggman was partially glad Sonic was still alive, "well… There's still good news… The good news is that they have the map. So we can just follow them and when the moment is right we'll spring a trap." However after suggesting a cleaver plan to Lyric, Dr. Eggman wasn't even looked at by the angered serpent. He just flew away and Dr. Eggman meekly followed the Last Ancient.

Elsewhere, Team Sonic and Amy located the boat and were surprised that it was mostly intact after falling off of a waterfall. They used a different river in order to get back to River Rush and return Salty's boat to him.

Things surely went by crazy fast. How much longer will Lyric tolerate Dr. Eggman? Who will get the next Crystal? Where are the other Driller Worms? Find out as the journey continues.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Crater Lake we shall go to

It had been almost a day since Lyric made his return, and in that time Team Sonic and Amy Rose worked hard to destroy Destruction Troops and locate the Death Crystals. They explored the rest of the island where Cliff had his excavation site, and couldn't find any more Crowns or Death Crystals. They found some shiny junk here and there and didn't think much of it at the time. As they explored Cliff found them while he piloted a biplane created by the Ancients. They learned that the biplane was created by Mach the Hedgehog as a gift to Kobayashi Prower, though how it got buried was anyone's guess. Cliff gave the heroes a lift to Bygone Island where the remaining Death Crystals were located according to the map of the Ancients. The heroes enjoyed the airplane ride to Bygone Island and were glad they made it before Lyric did, or so it seemed.

Shortly after they arrived they noticed that the unnamed village (called Bygone Village by Green and Amy's families) was a mess. "Man… This place looks worse than Knothole on a bad day." Sonic commented as he looked at some wood that suddenly broke off of a building. "Looks like this place got hit by a tornado?" Tails said as he inspected some of the damage while they were at the entrance of the village. "That's exactly what happened my fine visitors." A plump mouse wearing a grey vest and a very long hat said. "And you are?" Sonic asked. "I am Mayor E. Pluribus Fink, Esquire. But you can call me Mayor Fink my dear visitors." The Mayor said while puffing out his chest and looking important, "the last tornado that happened hit our village badly. Most of the citizens are staying in the shelters but some people are working hard so we can have food and other goods." As the Mayor explained this a log gave way on one of the buildings and nearly hit him, however Knuckles pushed the Mayor out of the way and grabbed the log. Sonic then cut it into pieces and then Tails and Amy got the blocks of log and made a pile. "This place is dangerous." Knuckles said to the Mayor. Mayor Fink was speechless by what the heroes just did he scratched his chin and then got an idea. "My, oh my, that was stupendous of you heroes to save me. You must be very strong and hard working." The mouse said in an admiring manner. "We save people all the time. And when you're a Freedom Fighter you have to learn survival skills." Mayor Fink didn't have any idea what a Freedom Fighter was, the reason for this is because until a couple years ago. Bygone Island and the surrounding islands were generally ignored by the Eggman Empire and untouched by the First and Second Robotnik Wars. But the Mayor had, had other things on his mind, "And rebuilding damaged buildings would happen to be among those survival skills I'm sure?" He asked while pretending to be innocent in the manner he asked his question. "You bet, we've made our own homes. Your village isn't too different from the one we came from." Amy Rose said while not thinking much on the consequences of answering the question. "Oh goody! Then perhaps I can interest you heroes in helping with the reconstruction of our village? You see the villagers are thinking of a good reason to get me reelected, and I just got the brilliant idea of asking some heroes to help rebuild our village." The heroes suddenly turned to look at Mayor Fink when he said that. "Now I know what you may be thinking, it seems like it'll be forever in order to get this village done. Well there's this fancy technology the old people who once lived here made which could speed up the process of reconstruction. By using these robot parts along with your natural knowhow of building things it'll take only a couple hours to do what would normally take days or even a week." The heroes thought it over for a moment, they did use the very robotic parts that Mayor Fink mentioned only yesterday morning so Cliff's Excavation Site would be fully operational. "Alright, we'll do it." Sonic said after he and the group nodded to each other. "Oh excellent! This will save our village in no time flat, and you'll be thanked deeply personally by me and Rodents United. This will go a long way in my reelection campaign." Mayor Fink joyously said while thinking of a village full of happy people cheering for him. Amy could tell what Mayor Fink was thinking, she crossed her arms and jokingly said, "And of course you'll take credit for all of our hard work won't you?" And then much to everyone's surprise Mayor Fink's replay was. "But of course I will. I am a politician after all." He said with a grin on his face.

The heroes wasted no time in getting to work, they worked hard in order to repair Bygone Village and help out with some other work in the area before heading for Crater Lake. Once they arrived at Crater Lake, they were greeted by two elderly jellyfish in mobile water bowls (that walked with robotic legs) named Hokey & Pokey. They didn't look like any Mobians that the heroes had seen before. Hokey was far more interested in rocky road ice cream than talking with the four visitors, Pokey was more helpful though. He informed the team that they did use to have the Radiant Crystal down by their place but the constant glowing of the Radiant Crystal would keep them up at night. So they tossed the Radiant Crystal up into the waterfall. Pokey described it as looking a lot like a white jewel that resembled a hexagon with an extra-long side. Shortly after they were done talking, Lyric's battleship came into the area and began deploying Destruction Troops into the waterfall.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy didn't waste any time getting up into the waterfall and taking on Destruction Troops. They fought hard and bravely and soon got the Radiant Crystal. The heroes also found any and all Crowns and treasure chests in the area along with some more shiny junk. While they made it back into the village they encountered Sticks the Badger! "Shinies!" Sticks said with excitement as she looked at the junk they found. "What?" The heroes said. "I love Shinies! You give me Shinies and I give you princess Crowns ok?" Sticks said with excitement as she looked eager to be given the shiny junk the group found on their adventure. "You mean you have Ancient Crowns? Like the ones Cliff collects?" Knuckles asked the eager badger. "Yes! And there a special machine you can use when you give me all the Shinies!" Sticks said with excitement as she quickly ran over to a small hut made from garbage and other junk. It was well hidden among trees and bushes, and the heroes were surprised Sticks had a little hideout here of all places. Questioning Sticks' motives only a little, they decided to make the exchange with her, and shortly after they did they were thanked in person by Mayor Fink for all of their hard work. He was glad they rebuilt the village and helped out some of the villagers in the process.

However they began going for the location of the Verdant Crystal and spotted Lyric and Dr. Eggman in the fields near Bygone Village, the heroes knew they had to get those dangerous villains away from the village as quickly as possible and that's exactly what they did.

The heroes quickly made their way to Slowpoke Isle and the villains Lyric and Dr. Eggman were hot on their trail. The heroes made it into a waterway system and Sonic decided to take Tails with him while they carried the Radiant Crystal, Amy and Knuckles took the high road and were close by. "I think we might've lost them?" Tails said as he Hydro Dashed alongside Sonic.

Then Lyric came into view, "I think you spoke to soon buddy." Sonic said as they dodged laser fire. "You have something that's mine hedgehog. I want it back to me!" Lyric shouted as he aimed at Sonic specifically. "Still mad over me time traveling and taking the map eh?" Sonic sarcastically asked the serpent. Sonic then spotted Knuckles and tossed the Radiant Crystal to him. "Nice throw Sonic!" Knuckles shouted out as he held on to the Radiant Crystal. Then the familiar sight of the Egg Mobile came into view, "ohohohoho! Long time no see Knuckles my old friend." Dr. Eggman said with a big grin on his face. "Eggman! You're not getting this Crystal!" Knuckles shouted at the doctor as he ran super-fast. "We'll see about that echidna." Dr. Eggman said as he fired missiles at roads and started making them collapse, however Knuckles and Amy jumped over the collapses. "Nice try doc." Knuckles said as he dodged falling debris. Dr. Eggman looked angry as his enemies kept getting the better of him. "Oh Knuckles, how does it feel being the last echidna on Mobius on account of Thrash's actions?" The doctor made a very low blow with that comment. Even if it wasn't entirely true, it angered Knuckles because his family and friends were all gone. "Shut up!" Knuckles shouted, he then saw Tails and tossed the Radiant Crystal to the fox. Lyric was surprised upon seeing this, "why do you keep throwing it like that?!" The snake hissed at his enemies, he started firing at Tails every so often. Lyric looked at Sonic, "I must say that you and your friends continue to impress me Sonic." Lyric said as he fired several more shots at the hero. Tails then spotted Amy and tossed the Radiant Crystal to her. The team met up and Lyric and Dr. Eggman tried to work together but they ultimately crashed into each other.

The heroes made it to one of two villages in the area inhabited by turtles and got help from the turtles in order to move forward. Meanwhile, Lyric was furious, he had it with Dr. Eggman for the last time. "Looks like they got away… Well aren't we going to trap them someplace?" Lyric was silent with Dr. Eggman for a bit, he then turned around and said with anger. "You've failed me for the last time." And Dr. Eggman knew that line all too well, his brother used it on many a SWATbot and other robots before destroying them. "Consider this partnership dissolved." Lyric said in anger, and Dr. Eggman had gotten to know within the day he spent working with Lyric that the Last Ancient was truly too dangerous to the world. "Funny I was thinking the same thing. And now prepare for me to introduce you to some of my most loyal of minions." Dr. Eggman said as he pressed a button, then Metal Mach and Mecha Sonic arrived. "Lyric, I'm sure you've met the Metal Mach robot before? Well behold him and one of my own creations I call Mecha Sonic. Mecha is kind of my first robot I made modeled after Sonic, and you can only imagine the surprise I had when I saw Metal Mach for the first time. And I really worked hard to beat out that heroic spirit in the Metal Mach robot." However Dr. Eggman didn't get any mercy calls as he was expecting, instead Lyric pressed the button on the chest of his suit. And then Metal Mach's eyes went purple with anger, Mecha Sonic twitched several times but ultimately his glowing red eye turned purple and he came to Lyric's side. "Mecha…" Dr. Eggman said in disbelief. "Metal Mach, dispose of this fool." Lyric ordered his new robot slave, Metal Mach then fired a chest cannon which sent Dr. Eggman in the Egg Mobile flying away. Lyric was very pleased at the sight of Dr. Eggman getting blown away. Lyric then looked at Metal Mach, "oh how the tables have turned in my favor. That fool took away your Spark of Life which in turn allowed me to take control of you Metal Mach." Lyric then looked at Mecha Sonic. "Mecha Sonic… I'm going to alter your code and work on Metal Mach's code. And then you two are going to bring me my Death Crystals and kill that hedgehog." Lyric hissed in a pleased tone.

Shortly after that happened, Sonic and his friends got ready to move on. But one of the villagers alerted them that a robot resembling Sonic attacked the neighboring village and destroyed a lot of areas in it. The heroes quickly worked hard in order to get the villagers taken care of, but they were delayed because they had to take a boat ride and the Destruction Troops and their commander made it difficult to hurry along. By the time they arrived at the village it was a mess, they helped out best they could but ultimately had to move on and enter into a cave system so they could get to Octagon Tower where the Verdant Crystal was being kept.

Eventually the heroes made it to the chamber where green glowing Crystal was located. It looked like it resembled a long octahedron. But before the heroes could get it, Metal Mach came crashing in and Mecha Sonic was right behind him. Metal Mach stole the Verdant Crystal, "You lose hedgehog." Mecha Sonic said as he and the Ancient robot escaped. The heroes knew they couldn't allow them to escape, "Metal and Mecha have the Verdant Crystal!" Sonic shouted out as he took charge against the robots. "Looks like Mecha Sonic got a major upgrade since the Angel Island days." Knuckles said as he and the others chased the robots. "You've got that right, sure he was fast but never this fast." Tails said as he flew around the bridges. Metal Mach then looked behind himself and spotted Tails, he then made a nod to Mecha Sonic and then nodded towards Tails.

Mecha Sonic then took a sharp turn and charged at Tails, Tails was taken by surprise but was saved thanks to the power of the Rings. "You're impressive Tails, but still a weakling in the shadow of the superior hedgehog." Mecha Sonic said as he flew while punching Tails. "I've got some tricks up my sleeves you outdated Badnik." Tails said as he used his tails to free himself, he then threw a small bomb at the Badnik but it didn't work.

Meanwhile on the highway system that Sonic, Amy and Knuckles were on. Metal Mach fired a laser beam that caused crystals to form. "Looks like Metal Mach is still pretty strong." Knuckles said as he dodged a burning crystal. Amy then noticed some kind of spheres on the highway, she used her hammer to hit one and it went flying into Metal Mach. "Guys, I think I found his weakness!" Amy said as she ran alongside Sonic. "Great job Amy." Sonic said as he followed her pattern, but then Metal Mach lifted up a hand and caught a sphere that was thrown at him. He looked angry as he threw one, he then went under the road they were on and then broke it. Tails was tossed down, Knuckles was then captured by Mecha Sonic.

Mecha Sonic narrowed his robotic eye at Knuckles. "So we meet again Knuckles. I must say much has happened to you since we first met." Mecha Sonic said as he punched Knuckles while holding him. "You've got no idea you bucket-head." Knuckles said as he kicked the robot and then used a free hand to crush Mecha Sonic's left hand. "I hope you're not left handed." Knuckles said as he ripped off a leg from Mecha Sonic as the two fought while freefalling.

Knuckles glided back down alongside his team, they were having trouble fighting Metal Mach. However Sonic took out his A.V.A and pressed a couple holographic buttons. Then he got ready to fight Metal Mach, "you know Metal Mach. I think I liked it better when you could talk, I mean we were quite the team back then. This silent killer robot thing is more like Julian's Metal Sonic robots, so not you or the modern Metal Sonic for that matter." Sonic sarcastically said as Metal Mach fired his crystalizing heat laser again. Metal Mach then got to the ground level of the road and then dug himself into the road while traveling backwards and made more of the heating crystals appear. He then used a Spin Dash and luckily Sonic missed it and the explosion it made. Metal Mach then broke the road again and it sent the heroes flying on to one of the upper roads.

Mecha Sonic then went after Amy. "You've already lost Amy. You're the weakest member of your team, you can't even fight without a weapon or allies by your side. Your family is lost thanks to the Eggman Empire." Mecha Sonic said as he held her by her Piko Piko Hammer. "You're wrong Mecha! I'm strong! And someday I'll lead my own team of Freedom Fighters! And my family is not lost anymore!" Amy said as she used all of her strength to hold on to her hammer tightly. She then used all of her strength to swing it so Mecha Sonic would be sent flying away. Tails caught her as she fell in midair from this action.

Metal Mach threw more orbs at the heroes but he was getting hit himself. "I think we're close to the finishing blows team." Sonic said as Metal Mach went under the road and broke it, the heroes went falling down on to another road.

Mecha Sonic then captured Sonic, Mecha then tossed Sonic towards Metal Mach and then Metal Mach kicked the hero. "Looks like you robots are using team work now…" Sonic said as he was punched and kicked between the two. "You're doomed Sonic, you can't run forever. Sooner or later you'd make your final run and lose your final life." Mecha Sonic said as he kicked Sonic. "I'm never going to stop running… And I've got something you robots will never truly have." Sonic said as Metal Mach did an uppercut on him. Mecha Sonic then grabbed Sonic by the throat and said, "And what's that?" Sonic smirked and said. "Friends and family that I can depend on… You Metal Sonic wannabe." Sonic said as Mecha Sonic's audio receivers picked up the sound of beeping. He tried to remove a bomb that Tails planted in his engine, but then Knuckles came and gave the Badnik an uppercut. Then in a fiery explosion, Mecha Sonic was trashed and now just a head and a blown up robot body.

Tails then threw his bombs at Metal Mach, and then Amy hit orbs at the robot which was really damaging it. Then Knuckles came down and did a diving attack. "You know, I know the reason I wasn't able to beat you before Metal Mach. It's because I was taking you on alone and assumed you were another copy of me. But you're not, you're unique and now I know you better. Plus I've got a great team that I can count on." Sonic said as he did his Homing Attack combo. He used it three times and that did the trick. Metal Mach went flying across the road the heroes were on, the robot hit the ground several times before ejecting the Verdant Crystal. "He dropped the Crystal!" Tails said. "You know… I wonder where he was keeping that thing?" Sonic said as he picked up the Verdant Crystal. Metal Mach's eyes sparked several times, but ultimately Metal Mach was offline, he suffered too much internal damage.

Wow! That was quite a fight and series of events! Two more Death Crystals have been found! But what will Dr. Eggman do now that Lyric is his enemy? And what's Lyric's next move? And does anyone in Bygone Village care about the danger of Lyric's ever growing army? Find out as the adventure continues!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Old friends, and an old Ocean Plant

Lyric waiting patiently for a message to come from Mecha Sonic and Metal Mach in regards to the status of the Death Crystal he sent them to collect. "It's hardly been one day since I've returned and my enemies have already gathered four of my Crystals. Those robots should be back by now with the Verdant Crystal." Lyric said to himself while he floated around the bridge of his flagship. His Destruction Troops were busy across the islands trying to do things at unreasonable paces. (I already tried the waiting game with the Ancients when I spent four thousand years studying the Death Crystals.) He thought to himself as he remembered the distant past. He looked at his right tri-claw. (I hoped in that time I could unlock all of the secrets I needed and then use my Death Crystals to conquer them all. But then I was poisoned by the Death Crystals in my pursuit of knowledge. Because of the Death Crystals I was given a true reason to keep inside of my suit I originally made for combat, they assumed that they could heal me. Mach kept telling me every day he'd find a way to heal me… When you listen to that for three thousand days on end while slowly degrading and worsening you start to come to a realization,) he thought to himself as he pressed a few buttons with archived holograms of the Ancients. His people mostly wore robes to conceal their identities but some such as Mach didn't wear robes all of the time. Lyric hissed at the image of Mach, (you always could use those Chaos Emeralds however you wished. Your connection to that Chaos Force gave you powers that I could only wish for. And you didn't even try using them to heal me, claiming that it might destroy me. Pah! In the end all organics are fools…) Lyric looked at a reflection of himself from his life support helmet. He then looked at a hologram of what he was like long ago. "I hate the fact I was once an organic weakling like them. I would've fully converted myself into a true cyborg if the Ancients would've allowed it. They had the gall to call me an abomination to our people…" Lyric hissed as he looked at a hologram of himself being avoided by other Ancients because of his armor. "I may be low on patients these days since I was imprisoned for a thousand years. But at least I learned to always make a backup plan." The serpent said to himself as he got a message informing him that Mecha Sonic was broken and Metal Mach was offline. "Always make backup plans." He told himself as he pressed a few buttons to start moving his flagship.

Elsewhere on Bygone Island

Team Sonic and Amy were very proud of themselves they defeated the Metal Mach robot and claimed their fifth Death Crystal. The last time they fought Metal Mach the robot injured Sonic badly and hurt his friends. It seemed like Metal Mach could've killed Sonic but circumstances ultimately saved Sonic from death and Doc Ginger saved his life. It was a tough moment in Sonic's life, but now that he and his friends overcame the Metal Mach robot and knew its secrets they were confident in their abilities. And Sonic realized something he forgot long ago. Even though he can have the strength to overcome many trials there were times when even he needed to call on help and team up. Sonic had many adventures and missions on his own in the past, though he worked with the Freedom Fighters and other heroes in recent months because they needed him. Sonic was getting bored with being the hero that always teamed up and wanted to go solo again like in his youth (when he wasn't fighting in the First Robotnik War). But after the past month, he's remembered why he took charge and formed Team Freedom and Team Fighters for the good of Mobotropolis and the world. "This is one sweet looking Crystal." Sonic said as he spun the Verdant Crystal around. "I'm glad things are doing well for the village." Amy said as they entered the village. "Tails, where's the next Crystal located?" Knuckles asked his friend. Tails pulled out a Miles Electric and began looking at the map, "According to the map, our next Crystal is located at the Ocean Purification Plant. The plant is located outside of the village… It looks like it was built directly into the seafloor." Tails said as he looked at the map using his Miles Electric. The group then saw Perci the Bandicoot standing at one of the entrances of the village, they waved to her and decided to check on her.

Perci is a good friend of Amy's older sister Amelia, and she knew and trusted the hedgehog well. However Perci didn't know Amy and her friends that well but was hopeful that they were as helpful as Amelia and her family. Knuckles didn't really know Perci so she explained to the group how her family the Bandicoot family guarded and protected Bygone Island for generations. She was angry that the stupid villagers had very little regard for her family and claimed nothing bad happened. The only reason nothing bad happened in the past was thanks to Perci and her family. And now the villagers were concerned more with the reelection of Mayor Fink than the threat of Lyric and his Destruction Troops. The heroes stated that they had been fighting Lyric for the past day now and were working hard to stop him and his forces. Perci wasn't too impressed with their claims though. "But we've got five of the eight Crystals already. Perci, we're Freedom Fighters and willing to do what needs done to help out others." Amy said as she showed Perci one of the Crystals. "Okay… Then I guess I can tell you a little something." Perci said to Amy as she gestured to her. "There are three balloon defenses on the beach that the Ancients built. If you four can get them activated then it'll boost the defense network for the village. If you can activate them, then I'll know you're on the right side and help you out." Perci said in a very neutral tone of voice.

The heroes then went to work and used their teamwork in order to figure out how to activate the defenses of the island beachhead. Once the defenses were up they informed Perci and she was impressed with them. She knew now that they were the real deal and agreed to help them fight Lyric, "we're heading for the Ocean Purification Plant. According to our map the Tidal Crystal is located there." Tails said as he showed Perci the map of the last three remaining Death Crystals. "I've patrolled the upper sections of that place in the past. Never went inside it though." Perci said as she looked at the map. Everyone walked on to the beach while thinking over what to do next. "Do you think you can keep up with us?" Knuckles said as he looked at the obstacles in the way, and like many obstacles the group encountered in the past, there was a lot of jumping. Perci then ran past Knuckles and jumped as high up as Sonic could. "Like I said, I've patrolled around the plant many times." Perci said with a grin on her face. The heroes then ran across the obstacles and got on to the entrance of the Ocean Purification Plant. Perci looked at the old elevator, many times in the past she passed over it but never before had she actually gone on it before. "Knuckles, you and Tails stay behind and guard the village in case Lyric shows up." She said in a bossy manner. "Since when were you in charge?!" Knuckles said as he stepped towards the lavender bandicoot. "It's alright Knuckles we can count on Perci to help us. And she's right with your strength and Tails brains you two will surely keep the village safe." Sonic said with a confident grin as he tried flattering Knuckles. "Hey Perci, I hope you do well in a fight." Knuckles said to the bandicoot. "I know a good deal of mixed hand-to-hand combat. And I'm cautious." Perci said as she pulled out her laser pistol and aimed it around a few times before putting it back. In the end the group went with Perci's call and split up.

Sonic, Amy and Perci rode on the elevator and traveled down to the facility. Inside the Ocean Purification Plant, the heroes encountered Q-N-C though Perci pulled out her pistol and aimed it at him. "Perci it's me Q-N-C!" The robot said as he flinched a little. "Sorry C, I thought you were a Destruction Troop for a moment." Perci said as she withdrew her pistol and then crossed her arms. "How do you keep showing up at places just out of nowhere?" Sonic asked Q-N-C, he was suspicious of the robot because Q-N-C was once the assistant to Lyric. "Well I was built in this facility and I'm small enough to easily fit into the pipe systems used by the Ancients." Q-N-C answered as he demonstrated for Sonic. "Hey guys look!" Amy said as she pointed at the Tidal Crystal which was located on the other side of the entrance. The heroes wasted no time in locating some Shinies for Sticks and Crowns for Cliff. Once they found everything at the entrance, they made a dash for the Tidal Crystal. But then alarms went off and Q-N-C just remembered the guardian robots of the facility. Perci wanted to shoot down the Tunnel-Bot guardian robot but Sonic grabbed her and made a run for it alongside Amy, they ran fast to avoid the guardian and made many sharp turns. Eventually after dodging many pipes the group escaped from the first Tunnel-Bot thanks to a blast door. Q-N-C warned the group that they ended up in the area of the facility where the toxic waste was gathered up and used to power the facility. The Ancients made the plant capable of running so long as it had pollution to clean up in the ocean, the moment it no longer had anything to clean up it would deactivate until pollution levels were at a level where the plant would need to work again.

The heroes had a tricky time getting out of the facility, they even got to see some beautiful underwater sights though Sonic wasn't pleased being near water due to his fear of water. Eventually they found an escape sub and used it to escape from the Ocean Purification Plant however a trio of Tunnel-Bots pursued them but thanks to the subs blaster systems they were able to shoot down the octopus like robots and escape safely. Meanwhile on the beach Knuckles and Tails waited for their friends and Perci, they were surprised when a sub built by the Ancients came up out of the ocean and was beached. Sonic, Amy and Perci explained everything that happened to the two and Tails was hoping that later he'd be able to examine the submarine built by the Ancients. They encountered Pokey near a shack and helped him find seashells for his wife Hokey, he rewarded them with a Power Glyph as a reward for being the first people to willingly help him out of the goodness of their hearts. Perci had a Power Glyph of her own and considered giving it to the team.

"The Tidal Crystal is pretty… Turquoise is a very nice color. The rough ring look to the Tidal Crystal is pretty unusual." Perci said as she looked over the Crystal. Perci moved the Tidal Crystal around and looked at it in sunlight for a moment, for some reason she felt that it was a bad idea if the Tidal Crystal made contact with water. "Alright guys, we can use the Tidal Crystal in order to get to a nearby island called Creeper Gorge. The Twilight Crystal is located on that island." Sonic said as he looked up the next location of a Death Crystal. Sonic was very eager to get the last two remaining Death Crystals. "Sonic, don't you think we need a break? Like some R'n'R time?" Tails asked his friend as he felt tired. Sonic took a moment and realized he couldn't push his team too far.

The heroes ultimately spent a few hours taking much needed rest and participating in a race held by Fastidious Beaver, the beaver sounded very dole in his tone of voice, he also wore a red bowtie and seemed to be running for some kind of office. The heroes didn't really bother asking, especially because Fastidious was a grammar fanatic and would correct the heroes on the proper way of speaking, such as the use of whoever in place of whomever and vice versa. After the heroes relaxed and felt energized for an adventure they took off for the Gate Lock where the Tidal Crystal would be used in order to create a bridge leading to Creeper Gorge Island and once the heroes arrived at the island they were surprised by how many gigantic plants were on the island. They had trouble with plants because the plants moved on their own, and they were dangerous because they had thorns on them which seemed to be made out of crystals like the ones Knuckles climbed on or the ones located at The Pit.

"This area must've suffered because of the effects of the Death Crystal." Perci said as she dodged a vine that nearly hit her. "The plants here are not normal, I've been around a good many exotic plants in my days. But this is nothing I've ever experienced before." Knuckles said as he looked at the plants while thinking of some of the plant life found on Angel Island. Then all of a sudden there was an earthquake and the heroes got separated in the confusion, Perci ended up with Tails and Amy and helped them try to reunite with Sonic & Knuckles.

The heroes had quite a time navigating Creeper Gorge, they found many items hidden among the plants and were on their feet as they saw the plants break rocks and cause other rocks to crash. The deeper the heroes got into Creeper Gorge, the more Destruction Troopers they encountered. They had reason to believe that Lyric was nearby with the amount of Destruction Troopers they encountered, Perci, Amy and Tails traveled towards where the Twilight Crystal appeared on the map. But they were already too late! Lyric used a machine to levitate the Twilight Crystal from where it was buried it was encased in a round sphere that helped keep its energies from getting loose. Lyric hissed in triumph as his machine got the Twilight Crystal, he turned and floated a few feet away from the spot while the heroes watched him. Then out of the blue Dr. Eggman arrived in his new Eggman Mech, once it landed Dr. Eggman grinned and said to his former ally. "Leaving so soon, before I even tell you the bad news?" Dr. Eggman's presence surprised Lyric with anger, (How does this human keep coming back?!) Lyric looked at the Eggman Mech. (Has this fool learned nothing from facing me?) Lyric thought to himself as he pushed his chest button to try and control Dr. Eggman's machine. However it didn't work, Lyric angrily pressed his button and hissed in anger. (Why isn't it working?) He thought to himself as he looked at the doctor with anger in his eyes while pressing the button several times. "Ahahahaha! Manual controls baby!" Dr. Eggman said with excitement as he tapped on his machine playfully while in the cockpit where his Egg Mobile controlled the machine. Dr. Eggman remembered all too well what Lyric did to him the last time they met, and he asked in a serious tone. "Where's my creation?" He was referring to Mecha Sonic, he was also curious what happened to the Metal Mach robot but he was more concerned with his Elite Badnik. Lyric raised his tri-claws, "Thanks to Sonic, your machine is nothing but scrap metal. Metal Mach got off better… In the end they were yet another worthless creation." Lyric said as he snapped his tri-claws a couple times. "Worthless eh? Watch this!" Dr. Eggman said as he fired missiles however they weren't as powerful as they normally were and merely annoyed Lyric. "Impressive." Lyric said sarcastically as he flew away. Dr. Eggman was furious he noticed the heroes spying on him and began to chase them for fun. The heroes actually used their Enerbeams a few times in order to use the missiles to destroy debris so they could continue onward.

Eventually the trio used an Enerbeam rail in order to try and escape, however Dr. Eggman followed them and they worked hard to damage the machine so they could escape. When the support structures of a bridge Eggman was under were destroyed by the heroes, the bridge ended up reuniting all five of the heroes. They weren't sure why but Lyric seemed to be heading for the center of the Ancient ruins in the center of Creeper Gorge. Lyric tried escaping with the Twilight Crystal but Dr. Eggman shot down the vessel carrying it and stole the Twilight Crystal. The heroes made it to the center of Creeper Gorge and Dr. Eggman engaged them. "Ohohohoho! Welcome heroes, did you enjoy the trip?" Dr. Eggman rubbed his hands while looking at the five heroes. "It was a rough trip no thanks to you and Lyric." Sonic said with a confident smirk. Dr. Eggman ignored them, "Once I defeat you five critters, I'm going to destroy that rat of a snake Lyric. And then I'll become the top dog!" The doctor grinned as he made the Eggman Mech hover in the air for a while as it shot missiles. However half of the missiles suddenly lost power, "What's going on?! The Twilight Crystal should've given me more power for my machine!" He said as he tried getting his machine to work properly. "Sonic! We can use the Enerbeams in order to hit Dr. Eggman's machine!" Tails shouted out as he dodged cannonballs shot from the Eggman Mech. "I'll crush you all!" Dr. Eggman said as he flew his machine up and then had the feet come crashing down and causing shock waves. The heroes quickly used their Enerbeams in order to hit Dr. Eggman, Perci used her laser pistol to distract Dr. Eggman while the missiles hit the machine. Oddly enough the missiles seemed to be nonlethal much like Bean the Dynamite Duck's explosives. Dr. Eggman was rattled around by the force of his own ordinance being used against him, the heroes then used their Enerbeams to pull down the Eggman Mech and Dr. Eggman could hardly believe how tough they were with their hand-to-hand combat skills. "You all have improved since I last saw you all fight in melee combat with the Gizoid." Dr. Eggman said as he remembered his last huge mission for taking over the world using the power of the Gizoid General which was an ancient robot made by the Fourth Great Civilization. Dr. Eggman also created one of the most powerful Death Eggs ever made using one of the 100 moons of Mobius. But his plans backfired big time and the Gizoid General, was destroyed and Shadow the Hedgehog seemingly died with him. The heroes repeated this process a couple times, Dr. Eggman said, "I should've installed airbags." On the third time he was hit badly.

Dr. Eggman knew a few secrets that the heroes would learn only when he wanted them to, should this plan fail then he'd have another one. "Hey doc what's the matter with this mech? I mean sure your stuff breaks easily, but this seems sloppy by your standards." Sonic said with a grin as he used a Homing Attack on the machine, "silence rodent!" the doctor shouted out. Tails threw small bombs at the machine and Knuckles and Amy did a dive bomb attack. Perci finished it off by hitting the spot where the Twilight Crystal was powering the machine. Dr. Eggman was seemingly knocked out when his mech fell. "Wow… To think we finally defeated Dr. Eggman." Perci said as she looked at the doc. However Dr. Eggman suddenly got up, "so long fools." He said as he had troubled getting his new Egg Mobile to leave from the Eggman Mech. "Giddy up!" He said as his machine was having trouble floating. "Nice scarf losers!" He said as he retreated from the fight. "That guy is something else." Perci said as she saw the doctor make a hasty retreat. "You don't even know the half of it." Sonic said as the Twilight Crystal suddenly floated free from its containment. The Twilight Crystal was bluish black with purple tones and shaped like a stalactite, it floated towards Sonic. Sonic then got a small vision related to his ancestor Mach the Hedgehog. In the vision Mach was exposed to energies from the Death Crystals and the Chaos Force, his rapid mutation resulted in him turning black and red in fur colors. Sonic passed out when this happened, everyone else took him back to Bygone Island and they rested up in the village for they knew they needed their rest for the final crystal.

Seems like things are really heating up, and the final Death Crystal is around the corner. But can the heroes get it in time or will they all fall into a terrible trap? And could Mach's mutation be a clue to the Shadow Imposter? Find out as the adventures continue!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The Sky Citadel Raid!

After Sonic woke up, he explained his vision to everyone. They were concerned about Mach the Hedgehog after hearing about the vision and Sonic had a sneaking suspicion that the Shadow Imposter was somehow Mach the Hedgehog. After all Mach said he was a Knight of Chronos and that the knights could travel across time, so it could be possible Mach was testing Sonic's skills before Sonic made the jump into the past with the time machine in the Abandoned Research Facility. Thankfully Lyric didn't know about the machine and after it was used MAIA saw to it that it was disassembled and no blueprints existed. "Alright guys, now that we're rested let's get to the Sky Citadel and get the final Crystal!" Sonic said eagerly as he dashed off. Perci had never seen Sonic's true speed before and was surprised, the team was able to keep up with Sonic, he was at the entrance leading to the Sky Citadel in no time flat.

Sonic held on to the Twilight Crystal and was ready to use it to open up the Gate Lock from the Ancient building. Sonic then said, "We've been through a lot guys. This is clearly going to be the end of this crazy adventure. So I think we should get this thing plugged in together." Sonic said as the group one by one took hold of the Twilight Crystal, they then plugged it into the lock and then the building in front of them sprang to life. It was glowing with blue energy and the group believed it was a teleportation pad of sorts that no doubt led to the Sky Citadel. However when they stepped on the pad, Knuckles and Amy both went up because they were in front of everyone else who entered, the other three heroes were quite surprised by this turn of events, however Tails began working on a plan and had a feeling Perci might need to stay behind.

Knuckles and Amy were in awe of the majestic beauty of the floating city that is the Sky Citadel. After taking several minutes to admire it, they then worked hard to get to the Sky Crystal and had to get the energy projectors around the Sky Citadel working again. They were glad no Destruction Troops made it to the city and they were glad that they had only traps to avoid. After several minutes they got things ready so they could get the Sky Crystal. Tails and Sonic arrived thanks to the biplane built by the Ancients that Cliff discovered, the heroes were excited. Sonic looked up at the Sky Crystal, it floated down to him and he knew now without a doubt that the reason everything in the ruins of the Ancients was made the way it was, was because the Ancients wanted to make sure only Sonic and his friends could find all eight of the Death Crystals. The Sky Crystal was purple and shaped like a flat cloudy triangle. Sonic tossed the Sky Crystal to Knuckles, he smiled and nodded to his rival. But then all of the sudden Destruction Troops were teleported into the chamber, there were dozens of giant commander models. "Sonic so nice of you to drop in." Lyric said as he floated down into the scene, "Once I figured out you had my map. I simply decided to sit back and watch you all go through the trouble of collecting the Crystals for me." Sonic was ready to fight Lyric. "You won't get the Crystals snake breath!" Sonic said to the serpent. Lyric had an evil look on his face as he grinned, "really? But what about your precious friends, surely they mean more to you than the Death Crystals?" Lyric said as his Destruction Troops got ready to fire at the heroes. The trio of heroes dropped the Death Crystals and looked up at Lyric, "alright Lyric, we're giving you the Death Crystals. Now let Sonic go!" Amy said as she glared at Lyric. Lyric however grinned as he moved his left tri-claw up, "I have a better idea." He said as he pressed his chest button and then all of his Destruction Troopers fired at Sonic, if not for his Rings he would've been vaporized, he was buried underneath rubble. "No!" His friends cried out. Lyric hovered over Sonic, "Consider our unfinished business finished; Sonic the Hedgehog." Lyric grinned as he moved his tri-claws forward and summoned the Death Crystals to him. "For your generous tribute, I'll allow you all to live to see the recreation of the world." Lyric hissed out in delight to Tails, Knuckles and Amy.

The three went to Sonic and brought Rings with them, they were hoping the old 100 Rings saves a life trick would work. They waited and within minutes Sonic came back, he looked a little roughed up, but he was ready. "Alright guys, we may have lost the Death Crystals but we can still find them. And most of all we must stop Lyric." Sonic said with complete confidence. "We need to escape from the Sky Citadel first. It looks like Lyric is getting ready to shoot it down." Tails said quickly as Destruction Troops began attacking the abandoned old city. "Lyric is truly a monster he's willing to forsake his heritage and culture and willing to destroy it all just to have his revenge." Knuckles said with deep anger in his voice as he charge at the nearest Destruction Troops.

The group worked hard fighting Destruction Troops, much to the surprise of Knuckles and Amy. Perci was at the biplane built by the Ancients and shot down several robots, she flew alongside a road and was ready for a pickup and the heroes made a daring escape. "What happened to the Crystals?" She asked the group as she acted as the co-pilot. "Lyric trapped us and forced us into giving them up. We didn't have much of a choice with blazing laser cannons in our faces." Tails explained. "We'd better check in with Sticks before we track down Lyric!" Amy said as they made a quick visit to Sticks on Bygone Island before facing the evil forces of Lyric the Last Ancient.

And so the heroes knew they had to follow their maps and radar in order to stop Lyric in his stronghold simply known as Lyric's Lair. This was going to be the point of no return, for the team until the job was done. Q-N-C appeared along the way and helped disable security systems in order to get the five heroes quickly to Lyric. "I'm afraid we're all running out of time. Lyric is placing the Death Crystals into devices that'll reactivate his giant Sentinel army." The friendly robot warned his friends as he had an idea of how much time remained until the Sentinels were all ready.

As the heroes got into the lower levels of Lyric's Lair and found many artifacts from the Ancients and some Shinies for Sticks. Sonic asked, "How much time do we have left?" Q-N-C twitched a little as he gave his calculations. "If we hurry, at least ten minutes. Before the destruction of the world as we know it begins." Sonic smirked upon hearing ten minutes. "I clear through Zones in less than ten minutes. All the same we have to finish what I started. It's my fault this all happened, and now it's time to end it." While Sonic said that a security monitor turned on. "For once we're in agreement Sonic the Hedgehog. I don't know exactly how you survived our last meeting, but it must've had something to do with the Rings my people used." Sonic and his friends jumped over traps while overhearing Lyric. "Why don't you come and face me serpent to rodent?" Sonic challenged Lyric. "I don't have time for a feeble organic such as you Sonic. You'll find my home has been prepared for unwanted guests such as yourself." A security monitor moved in front of Q-N-C, "And as for you, you traitor." The monitor pressed in front of the small robot's face which made him nervous. "You'll wish you were dismantled after I get my tri-claws on you." The monitor turned off and Q-N-C felt very nervous. "Guys… I think I might've sprung an oil leak…" The robot said as Perci grabbed him. "Don't let Lyric intimidate you, our courage and hope are our greatest gifts we have in these moments." While the group moved around Amy found the last of the Shinies and said. "I wonder why there's so much junk in these Ancient ruins." Perci then thought for a moment, "Its likely people either lost equipment over the years or just got careless. Seeing as these places haven't been touched for a thousand years it would make sense." Perci stored the last of the Shinies in a backpack while the group was on the lookout for Driller Worms. They encountered a few along the way but thankfully Q-N-C shut down the Driller Worms and kept them on lockdown.

By the time the heroes reached the center of Lyric's Lair he was making a speech to his robotic legion that lay dormant. "Today we shall finish what I started over five thousand years ago. Rise my metal warriors! From this day forth you shall go out and kill every single plant, animal and human! All organic life shall be destroyed, and then we shall have peace in a world made of metal!" He then pressed on a device that held all of the Death Crystals and it was getting ready to boot up his army. (Just a few moments before my army will destroy what those fools tried so hard to protect.) Just as Lyric grinned in triumph as he saw his work finally start the final phase of his master plan, an all too familiar voice said. "The only world of metal you'll go to is a junkyard." Sonic fiercely had on his sarcastic grin as he looked at the huge serpent. Lyric hissed in anger, "You have been a thorn in my side for the last time Sonic the Hedgehog. But it matters not, for I know your weakness. And your weakness is your foolish friends." Lyric seemed confident, "And I see you brought the heir of the Bandicoots. It'll be a pleasure seeing them perish along with the rest of your families once I'm done with you two." Sonic then stomped a foot down, "You're wrong Lyric my friends are my greatest strength. Through them I've come to understand teamwork better than you." Perci then added, "And that is a power you'll never have. Because you don't and never will understand friendship and teamwork." She got her laser pistol ready as the others got ready for their final clash with Lyric. Lyric hissed loudly in anger and roared like a dragon as his tri-claws started glowing with read Death Energy. "Let's end this." He said as he charged at them, thankfully they dodged in time. His tail tri-claw fired a laser bolt at them. "My energy gatherer can allow me to fire energy from the Death Crystals, you fools will surely die." He said as he called in reinforcements using his teleportation devices. The group used series of attacks against Lyric, they then pulled him down using their Enerbeams and it caused safeguards to fail around the areas guarding the Death Crystals.

The heroes wasted no time, Tails went to get the Radiant Crystal and Tidal Crystal. Knuckles went to get the Twilight Crystal and Shock Crystal, Amy got the Verdant Crystal and Sun Crystal, Sonic got the Flame Crystal and Shock Crystal. While the heroes did that Perci fired her laser pistol at Lyric, when he suddenly lost power from the Death Crystals being removed he felt a massive drain on his armor. Lyric could take quite a beating, he was overwhelmed by the heroes, but then while on the ground he noticed that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy each had on their wrists one of the devices he used to trap them when he first met them. "Interesting." He said as he pressed his master control button on his chest and activated the dormant shackles. Perci was surprised by this and Lyric almost fired his tri-claw lasers at full blast but out of the blue missiles hit him in his back. Dr. Eggman hit Lyric with his broken Eggman Mech's missiles. "Got him!" Dr. Eggman said with excitement, it was clear by looking at him that he went through a lot to get there. He then retreated before anyone else could do anything about him, the heroes were freed and Lyric was furious. "Sonic! You will never defeat me!" Lyric was refusing to back down. "I may not be able to, but perhaps this team of heroes can." Sonic said as Tails took off the Enerbeam devices, the heroes then each took turns using combo moves against Lyric. Knuckles did a dive attack thanks to Tails tossing him down towards Lyric, and then Tails began circling the serpent. Amy then got her Piko Piko Hammer ready and hit Sonic into Lyric several times while the hedgehog used a Spin Dash. Sonic then helped Tails use the Enerbeams to tie up Lyric, and finally Sonic hit the tied up serpent with his Homing Attack combo attack that he learned in his fight with the Shadow Imposter. Lyric was taken down, and trapped in his armor, Knuckles quickly ran up to him and ripped out the master control button that the Last of the Ancients used to control machines. "You won't be needing this anymore." Knuckles said as he tossed the button out of reach. "Noooooo!" Lyric shouted. "Mach would've been proud if he could see us now." Sonic said as he was glad Lyric was finally defeated and his army offline. Then all of a sudden the time portal that transported the Shadow Imposter opened up. Sonic and the others got ready for a fight, but the Shadow Imposter noticed Lyric was defeated. "Not bad, I guess your friends aren't weak after all. You've truly impressed me since we first met in that factory Sonic." The Shadow Imposter said to Sonic while atop a ridge, Sonic knew now without a doubt that somehow and someway this Shadow Imposter was actually; Mach the Hedgehog!

Hours later at Bygone Village, Mayor Fink was glad that he was reelected and the heroes brought with them tons of deactivated Destruction Troops which were broken into parts. Sticks got all of the Shinies and Cliff was given all of the Crowns of the Ancients. "You lot all did a fantastic job, you truly are heroes. I'm proud that the village finally recognizes you as one Perci Bandicoot." Cliff said with a big grin on his face. The heroes celebrated their victory against Lyric and knew that in time they'd have to do something to take care of the Death Crystals. It was dangerous keeping the Death Crystals for too long unlike their counterparts the Chaos Emeralds. But those concerns and worries were for another time, for tonight everyone celebrated.

Epilogue

Down in Lyric's Lair, the serpent was tied up and coughing fiercely. Then a metallic being came walking towards him. "Hello Lyric, a pity that the Last of the Ancients couldn't smite my old nemesis." The being spoke with a mighty tone in his voice. "What are you?" Lyric asked the machine as it glared at him with red glowing eyes. "I'm the finest creation of man. And soon I'll be perfect once the final pieces of my age old plan are in place for my grand game." The being said as he scanned Lyric. "What do you plan on doing with me?" Lyric asked. The machine saved Lyric's life and untied him, "The Lost Crystal could be of great use to me. The Master Emerald is too heavily guarded, and taking it would only draw unwanted attention. You will find me the Lost Crystal, do this and your plans will be complete. But Sonic is mine." The robot said as he extended a clawed robotic hand to help up Lyric. "You look so much like my nemesis… And those other robots I used… Why bother helping me?" Lyric coughed a little. "Let's just say I need your knowledge and machines if I'm to make a true Metal Empire. And your services and loyalty will be handsomely rewarded." Lyric paused for a moment but he grabbed on to the clawed hand of the machine and was lifted up. He was then escorted by a few Badniks to a safe location for recovery. As for the robotic being, he hovered over the area and his sensors were looking for the button that was in Lyric's chest, the button was located and picked up by the machine. He then looked at his right arm and a slot for the button opened up and it got placed in. He pressed the button and said, "Metal Mach do you read me?" Far away at some Ancient Ruins, Metal Mach reactivated. "Yes master… What are my orders?" The robotic being controlling Metal Mach then said. "Gather up the remains of Mecha Sonic. Then meet me at the Rail Canyon where the Egg Fleet is being prepared. After that you'll help out Dr. Eggman until I order you to capture him. I must see to a few more details and plans' getting taken care of before Operation Metal Madness begins."

One day later

Green the Hedgehog had been very surprised when he heard of the adventure that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Perci were on. "Good thing you guys took care of business. Because Princess Sally needs you all back at Mobotropolis immediately for something. Couldn't say what it was exactly over the A.V.A." Green said as he replayed a message sent by Princess Sally. She attempted contacting Sonic and his friends when they entered Lyric's Lair but Lyric had devices installed to prevent his enemies from being able to contact the outside. The four Freedom Fighters got the Tornado ready for takeoff and packed everything they needed. "I think I'm going to miss those guys." Fiona Fox said to Green as she watched her friends get ready to leave. "We can still visit them, after all I need to keep tabs on my shack in Aquatic Ruins Zone." Green said to his girlfriend who was very happy to be with her boyfriend. "I wonder if Sally is finally going to ask for the wedding? Like the time when they did that stage play at that old barn before Dr. Robotnik blew it up." Fiona sarcastically said while watching the Tornado take off. Green's parents were with him as they watched the heroes leave Bygone Island, everyone waved goodbye.

Green and his family and Fiona and her family looked at some old photo albums together, it was nice seeing some old memories from long ago. "You know, it's a shame that barn we were married in was destroyed by Robotnik." Midori said as she looked at her wedding photos. "We never expected that madman to end up in the city my sweet. Hopefully we'll see to it that it gets fixed." Her husband said. "Maybe one day we will dad, maybe one day." Green enjoyed sitting with his family, his girlfriend and her family. "Good thing your friends gave us the Death Crystals." Midori said as she looked at the eight Death Crystals.

Green picked up the Sun Crystal and the Twilight Crystal and then the two suddenly fused together. "Look at this… Twilight and Sun joining together as friends in harmony… It must be symbolic of a premonition… And once again there are seven." Green smiled as he gathered the rest of the Death Crystals. He then stepped outside and everyone from his house watched as he used his Chaos Control to send the Death Crystals to someplace far away in Outer Space. "They did not belong on our world. One day the Death Crystals will return, but that is for the distant future." Green said as his family and girlfriend and her family watched a beautiful sunset.

Eggman's Lair

Dr. Eggman was disappointed with his failed plans. "Seems like Project Ancients has been a bust… And Sonic and his friends just got stronger." Orbot and Cubot then showed Dr. Eggman something. "Boss, we found Metal Mach and he's almost ready to be used again." Orbot eagerly showed off the robot that was almost ready. Dr. Eggman grinned, "Maybe I can pay my old friend Green and his family a visit with this robot before going after Sonic again? For old times' sake of course." The doctor said as he brushed his mustache with his right hand and grinned evilly. (That's right Eggman, feed your ego. After this next meeting it's time you show Green an old friend of his.) The robotic being who brought back Metal Mach thought to himself as he directly controlled Metal Mach now.

Quite an adventure, Lyric seems like he's coming back. And the Shadow Imposter is really Mach the Hedgehog! But what is Operation Metal Madness?! Find out as the stories continue and Green the Hedgehog faces Lyric in his next adventure with the most awesome badger ever; Sticks!


End file.
